Person mind and body A critical examination of the concept of person

1.1 Concept of Person Philosophy is concerned with the enquiry into the nature of things, that is, the way in which men have expressed their wonder about the nature of things. It is the nature of philosophy to make every effort to get back to the simplest beginnings. The ancient philosophers wanted to understand them­ selves and the world in which they lived. Even though they were mostly con­ cerned with the nature of the physical world, they did not neglect the concept of the self or person. Man is a mystery to himself. He is a part of nature and shares some common features with every living thing on the earth. Socrates' famous dictum "Know thy self," indicates a task that man apparently can nei­ ther avoid nor complete. In modern times due to the development of science we can understand better how the human mind works. This is due to the develop­ ments in the psychological and neurological sciences. The most important question that man has ever posed about himself is the question regarding the relation between his self and his body. Because not only is the concept of a person one of the most important, it is also one of the most plausible candidates for membership of that special group of concepts which, according to Strawson, constitute the 'massive central core of human th inking' 1¿ To find an answer to the relation between person, mind and body is the task of philosophy.