"Gnothiseauton" and "epimeleiaheautou" in Plotinus: Dialogue with the Socratic-Platonic tradition

Abstract

The article traces the notions of gnothiseauton, "self-knowledge," and epimeleiaheautou, "self-care," in the plotinian theory of Enneads I, focusing on the treatises on happiness and virtues. To expose this conceptual analysis the textbegins from a Foucaultian reading of the concepts of knowledge and self-care, in order to trace a fabric of relationships that evidences a connection between the Socratic figure and the subsequent reception of these problems in Plato under the notion of anamnesis.From this historical framework, the text shows the way in which Plotinus inherits this concern for the self in his own theory.