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.
