The genealogy of the concept “inner man”: From Plato to the Desert Fathers

The concept of “inner man” was first used by Plato in the 5th century BC as a metaphor for describing the intelligent part of the threefold soul. In subsequent centuries, Greek philosophers perceived this expression as an appropriate image, but not as a term with a stable content. In the 1st century A.D. Apostle Paul used the expression “inner man”, giving it a broader and deeper meaning than Plato. In the III century Clement of Alexandria and Origen synthesized the Apostolic and Platonic understanding of the expression “inner man”. Later, the expression “inner man”, meaning the presence of the World Soul in man, became an accepted term in the writings of the Neoplatonists. In Christian theology of the 4th century the expression “inner man” became generally accepted: the Cappadocian Fathers and Blessed Augustine preferred to use this concept to denote the higher part of the soul, and the Desert Fathers — the soul in general. It is shown that the ambiguity of the expression “inner man” and its authority for Platonists and Christians made it a connecting link between the two traditions.

References
[1] Berdyaev N.A. Smysl tvorchestva (opyt opravdaniya cheloveka) [The meaning of creativity (the experience of justifying of the man]. Moscow, Lemant G.A. and Sakharov S.I. Publ., 1916, 358 p.
[2] Cyprian (Kern), archim. Antropologiya sv. Grigoriya Palamy [Anthropology of St. Gregory Palamas]. Moscow, Palomnik Publ., 1996, 449 p.
[3] Pozov A. Ocherki drevnetserkovnoy antropologii [Essays on ancient church anthropology]. Vol. 1. St. Petersburg, SPbU Publ., 2009, 573 p.
[4] Tarasov P.G. Nauchnye vedomosti belgorodskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. seriya: filosofiya. sotsiologiya. pravo — Belgorod State University Scientific Bulletin. Philosophy Sociology Law, 2007, no. 9 (40), pp. 31–38.
[5] Kostyukova T.A., Puchin D.S. Genezis i razvitiye idei vnutrennego cheloveka v ellinisticheskoy filosofii i khristianskoy patristike [Genesis and Development of the Idea of the Inner Man in Hellenistic Philosophy and Christian Patristics]. Materialy mezhdunarodnoy nauchnoy konferentsii «Zabota o sebe» kak obrazova-telnaya praktika sovremennogo klassicheskogo universiteta» (Tomsk, 24–25 noyabrya 2017) [Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference “Taking Care of Yourself” as an Educational Practice of a Modern Classical University” (Tomsk, November 24–25, 2017)]. Tomsk, Tomsk University Publ., 2018, pp. 65–72.
[6] Sochivko D.V. Nauchnyye trudy Moskovskogo gumanitarnogo universiteta (Transactions of the Moscow University for the Humanities), 2019, no. 4, pp. 4–11.
[7] Bondar S.V. Paleorosia. Drevnyaya Rus vo vremeni, v lichnostyakh, v ideyakh— Paleorosia. Ancient Russia: in time, in personalities, in ideas, 2016, no. 6, pp. 116–184.
[8] Nezovibatko O.E. Izvestiya Samarskogo nauchnogo tsentra Rossiyskoy akademii nauk — Izvestia of Samara Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 2013, no. 2-2, pp. 467–472.
[9] Gagarin A.S. Nauchnyy zhurnal “Diskurs-Pi”— Scientific journal “Discourse-P”, 2006, no. 1, pp. 64–66.
[10] Petrov F.V. Vestnik Leningradskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta im. A.S. Pushkina (Pushkin Leningrad State University Bulletin), 2011, no. 3, pp. 80–87.
[11] Markschies Ch. International Journal of the Classical Tradition 1995, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 3–18.
[12] Nemec R. FILOZOFIA, 2017, no. 3 (72), pp. 181–191.
[13] Nikolaev N.I. Vnutrenniy mir cheloveka v russkom literaturnom soznanii XVIII veka [The inner world of a man in the Russian literary consciousness of the 18th century]. Arkhangelsk, Pomorskiy Gosudarstvennyy universitet Publ., 1997, 147 p.
[14] Etkind E.G. «Vnutrenniy chelovek» i vneshnyaya rech. Ocherki psikhopoetiki russkoy literatury XVIII–XIX vv. [“The Inner Man” and External Speech: Essays on the Psychopoetics of Russian Literature of the 18th-19th centuries]. Moscow, Yazyki Russkoy kultury Publ., 1998, 446 p.
[15] Nezovibatko O.E. Vnutrenniy chelovek v russkoy i frantsuzskoy literaturnoy traditsii: Paskal. Radishchev. Gogol. Diss. Cand. filol. Nauk. Avtoreferat [The inner man in the Russian and French literary tradition: Pascal, Radishchev, Gogol. Cand. philol. sci. diss. Abstract]. Saratov, 2014, 19 p.
[16] Plato. Sobraniye sochineniy [Collected Works]. In 4 vol., vol. 3. Moscow, Mysl Publ., 1994, 654 p. (in Russ.)
[17] Garadzha A.V., Protopopova I.A. Vestnik Russkoy khristianskoy gumanitarnoy akademii — Review of the Russian Christian academy for the humanities, 2013, no. 3, pp. 9–18.
[18] Jedan Ch. The Rapprochement of Religion and Philosophy in Ancient Consolation: Seneca, Paul, and Beyond. In: Religio-Philosophical Discourses in the Mediterranean World. From Plato, through Jesus, to Late Antiquity Leiden, Boston: Brill Academic Publ., 2017, pp. 159–187.
[19] Fokin A.R. Avgustin [Augustine]. In: Pravoslavnaya entsiklopedia [Orthodox encyclopedia]. Vol. 1. Moscow, Tserkovno-nauchnyy tsentr “Pravoslavnaya entsiklopedia” Publ., 2000, pp. 93–109.
[20] Khondzinsky P.V., prot. Tserkov ne est akademiya: Russkoye vneakademicheskoye bogosloviye XIX veka [The Church is Not an Academy: Russian Non-Academic Theology of the 19th Century]. Moscow, St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University Publ., 2016, 480 p.