Treatise On Self Knowledge: Intermixed With Various Reflections And Observations On Human Nature - Softcover

John Mason

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0461967138 ISBN 13: 9780461967135

Publisher: HardPress, 2021

Synopsis

Treatise On Self Knowledge.: Intermixed With Various Reflections And Observations On Human Nature by John Mason. This work presents a sustained meditation on self-knowledge as the foundation of wise living and moral virtue. Divided into two parts, it first elaborates the nature and importance of knowing oneself, detailing the threefold constitution of the human person (body, animal soul, and rational mind), the different relations to God, Christ, and other beings, and the aims of self-knowledge in personal conduct, humility, piety, and death. Mason argues that true wisdom begins with honest self-examination, steady self-government, and constant watchfulness over thoughts, appetites, and temptations. The second portion extols the practical benefits of self-knowledge—the governance of passions, improved judgment, moderation, charity, and usefulness in the world—before describing how such knowledge is to be attained: through self-examination, conversation with superiors, cultivated temper, memory, mental taste, and fervent prayer. The text also offers a long preface and a didactic structure, revealing 18th-century Protestant ethics and a pedagogy of moral self-culture.

Edition details

• Publisher: HardPress
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0461967138
• ISBN 13: 9780461967135
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 207