PRACTICES OF SELF-KNOWLEDGE IN ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY

Abstract

The subject of the study is philosophical practices of self-knowledge, which were used in ancient and medieval philosophy. Self-knowledge required a lot of effort and the ability to look at your experience in different perspectives. On the one hand, introspection had to be carried out simultaneously in the perceived mental state, on the other hand, the cognizing subject should not be dominated by this state at the moment of observation, therefore ancient and medieval thinkers carried out the process of self-knowledge by establishing control over soul affects through the activity of the mind. Both ancient and medieval thinkers saw the unity between the process of self-knowledge and the improvement of body and spirit (soul). Self-knowledge was experienced in the axiologically colored experience of participating in the transcendental (Logos, the One, God), which guides a person to spiritual perfection.