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

Authors: Krylov A.O. Published: 04.05.2021
Published in issue: #2(88)/2021  
DOI: 10.18698/2306-8477-2021-2-710  
Category: The Humanities in Technical University | Chapter: Philosophy Science  
Keywords: inner man, philosophical anthropology, Plato, Clement of Alexandria, Plotinus, Orthodox anthropology

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.


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