Single Idea 5886

[catalogued under 16. Persons / C. Self-Awareness / 3. Limits of Introspection]

Full Idea

The soul has not the power of itself to see itself, but, like the eye, the soul, though it does not see itself, yet discerns other things.

Gist of Idea

Like the eye, the soul has no power to see itself, but sees other things

Source

M. Tullius Cicero (Tusculan Disputations [c.44 BCE], I.xxvii)

Book Reference

Cicero: 'Tusculan Disputations', ed/tr. King,J.E. [Harvard Loeb 1927], p.79


A Reaction

The soul is a complex item which contributes many layers of interpretation to what it sees, so there is scope for parts of the soul seeing other parts. Somewhere in the middle Cicero seems to be right - there is an elusive something we can't get at.