Posted: February 15th, 2022

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Aristotle: On the Soul (D e A n i m a )

According to Aristotle a living creature consists of Body = matter Soul = form

The soul (psyche) is the structure of the body – its function and organization. This was the word Greeks gave to the animator, the living force in a living being. For Aristotle the psyche controlled reproduction, movement and perception.

Aristotle thought that the soul is the Form of the body. The soul is the sum total of the operations of a human being.

Aristotle believed that there exists a hierarchy of living things – plants only have a vegetative soul, animals are above plants because they have appetites, humans are above animals because it has the power of reason.

Image source: http://gakuran.com/aristotles-moral-philosophy/

Aristotle tries to explain his understanding of the distinction between the body and the soul using the analogy of an axe. If an axe were a living thing then its body would be made of wood and metal. However, its soul would be the thing which made it an axe i.e. its capacity to chop. If it lost its ability to chop it would cease to be an axe – it would simply be wood and metal.

Another illustration he uses is the eye. If the eye were an animal, sight would have to be its soul. When the eye no longer sees then it is an eye in name only.

Likewise, a dead animal is only an animal in name only – it has the same body but it has lost its soul.

What is important for Aristotle is the end purpose of something – an axe chops, an eye sees, an animal is animated…etc. This is what is meant by ‘teleology,’ from the Greek telos meaning end/goal/aim.

For Aristotle, the body and soul are not two separate elements but one thing. The body and the soul are not, as Plato would have it, two distinct entities, but are different parts or aspects of the same thing.

Aristotle does not allow for the possibility of the immortality of the soul. The soul is simply the Form of the body, and is not capable of existing without the body. The soul is that which makes a person a person, rather than just a lump of meat. Without the body the soul cannot exist. The soul dies along with the body.

Criticisms of Aristotle

Aristotle dismisses Plato’s Realms of Ideas, saying there is no clear evidence for them. Instead he appeals to our senses, claiming that it is through them that we experience reality. However, we are still left with the problem that there is no clear evidence that our senses are reliable.

Text adapted from: http://www.scandalon.co.uk/philosophy/aristotle_body_soul.htm

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On the Soul by Aristotle (D e A n I m a )

A living thing, according to Aristotle, is made of of Body = matter. Form = soul

The soul (psyche) is the body’s structure – its function and organization. The animator, or living energy in a living organism, was referred to as this by the Greeks. According to Aristotle, the psyche was in charge of reproduction, movement, and perception.

According to Aristotle, the soul is the Form of the body. The soul is the totality of a human being’s actions.

Plants only have a vegetative soul, animals are above plants because they have appetites, and humans are above animals because they have the faculty of reason, according to Aristotle.

http://gakuran.com/moral-philosophy-of-aristotle/

Aristotle makes an attempt

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