Knowledge of oneself and of others : Aquinas, Wittgenstein and Rembrandt

Current discussions of self-knowledge focus on awareness of mental states, but a more ancient concern is with knowing one’s nature and with living well in light of that. Pursuit of this Socratic imperative has been associated with a tradition of self-identification contributed to by Plato, Plotinus, Augustine and Descartes. Their ideas are distinguished and discussed, but another perspective is developed bringing together ideas from Aquinas and Wittgenstein: linking of the former’s understanding of propria and the latter’s account of criteria. The nation of natural signs is adverted to in relation to Reid suggesting a third component to this perspective.