And contrary to the opinion of the masses, one’s true self, according to Socrates, is not to be identified with what we own, with our social status, our reputation, or even with our body. Instead, Socrates famously maintained that our true self is our soul.

Hume is understood as claiming that reason cannot on its own move us to act, but it can do so with the help of desire. On this reading, the argument is taken as support for the Humean belief-desire theory of action and the meta-ethical position known as non-cognitivism.

According to Kant, both of these theories are incomplete when it comes to the self. According to him, we all have an inner and an outer self which together form our consciousness. The inner self is comprised of our psychological state and our rational intellect. The outer self includes our sense and the physical world.

Plato, at least in many of his dialogues, held that the true self of human beings is the reason or the intellect that constitutes their soul and that is separable from their body. Aristotle, for his part, insisted that the human being is a composite of body and soul and that the soul cannot be separated from the body.

Socrates’ most important contribution to Western philosophy was his technique for arguing a point, known as the Socratic technique, which he applied to many things such as truth and justice.

The Socratic method is still in use because it develops a number of skills and is an excellent instructional tool. Students working through Socratic questioning will learn that there are two or more sides to almost any issue, and a competent lawyer is able to persuasively articulate all of them.

Socratic questioning is a form of disciplined questioning that can be used to pursue thought in many directions and for many purposes, including: to explore complex ideas, to get to the truth of things, to open up issues and problems, to uncover assumptions, to analyze concepts, to distinguish what we know from what we …