de Anima (on the Soul)

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The popular concept of the existence of a "soul," a person's personality that is separate from the body, which survives the death of the body and lives on for eternity, while accepted as axiomatic by Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, is not in the Hebrew Bible. The idea was taken from ancient pagan cultures and the Greek philosopher Plato was probably the person who was most influential in influencing the popular thinking and helped mold this Christian, Jewish, and Islamic belief. However, not all people of these faiths accepted the idea, and some religious thinkers accepted the teaching of Aristotle. The popular view about the afterlife is enshrined in the post-Hebrew Bible holy books. The New Testament speaks about Jesus going to heaven. The Quran proclaims "I swear by the day of resurrection." Jews recite a prayer three times daily, "who caused the dead to come to life." This is the popular view. What does Aristotle say? Aristotle's teacher, the famous Greek philosopher Plato (428 or 427-348 or 347 BCE), like many people today, believed that the soul exists independent of the body. It the real me that is clothed in the body, which is not me. It may or may not have existed from the beginning of time, but it will survive for all eternity with the same personality it had when it was joined to the body. In his The Apology, Plato describes his teacher discussing death just before he died. Socrates said that there are two possibilities: either there is nothingness after death or "as people say, a change and migration of the soul from this to another place." He seems to believe the second because he also says that people "must bear in mind this one truth, that no evil can come to a good man either in life or after death, and God does not neglect him." However there is no certainty that Plato accepted the second possibility because, as Plato wrote in his Republic it is necessary to teach the masses ideas that are false, called "essential truths," in order to control them from acting improperly and to weaken their worries. Aristotle (384-322 BCE) rejected Plato's notion that the soul is an independent body. Aristotle contended that the "soul" is the life force that makes it possible for something to live and think. It is "the cause or source of the living body." It is "the essential whatness of the body." In humans, the soul is comprised of five parts or systems: the nutritive system, the appetitive (desires and passions), senses, locomotion, and thinking. Since they are alive, plants and animals also have souls, but not all five parts. Plants, according to Aristotle, only have the nutritive part of the soul. Animals have four of the five and lack thinking. Aristotle stated that the "mind" or "intellect" cannot be destroyed and it will continue to exist after the body dies. Old people have difficulty thinking not because the mind has deteriorated, but because the vehicle, the body, holding the mind has deteriorated. This is similar to wha

I read these works for a graduate seminar on Aristotle. Soul- De Anima Latin for Greek word Psuche=Life. It is a Phenomenology of Life. Living things are Aristotle¡¦s primary interest. Renee Descartes says thinking is only aspect of soul, not life. For Descartes the soul is the mind. Aristotle classifies features of living things. A soul can¡¦t be a body, (like a corpse). Psuche=life is a living form of the body, the phenomenon of life. Capacity to live is what he means. Ergon=function or work, thus when he talks about soul it is a body¡¦s function. Thus, a corpse is a deactivated body. Dunamis=capacity, Energia= actuality, thus both words are active words and can be seen as ¡§activating capacity.¡¨ Like a builder while building a house, past potential but not actual until the house is complete. Entelecheia=¡¨living things have their ends inside them.¡¨ A living being has an end in itself. What is the soul? Psuche= soul is being working toward ends of a self-moving body having the capacity to live. This is another way of talking about desire (like an animal that is hungry). Desire-animals have this as we do. Orexis=desire. The phenomenology of desire is to be motivated towards something that is lacking at the time, hunger, etc. Pleasure and pain. Desire and action there are 3 kinds of desire. 1. Appetite like hunger and sex. 2. Emotion-like love not on crude level as appetite. 3. Wish-desire of the mind, (I want a good job). All three strive towards something that is lacking. ¡§Desire is movement of the soul.¡¨ Human life is a set of desires. Human desires are more complicated. Desires clash like dieting and appetite. ¡§All humans desire to know.¡¨ This is the first line of the Metaphysics. Knowledge examined in terms of distinction between matter and form, perception has to do with intelligible form. Perception takes in visible form of something without the matter. Like imagination, an animal and human can do this. All knowledge starts with perception thus memory. Ultimate knowledge is intelligible form from visible form but mind is also using abstractions, this is a human capacity only. Humans use language to do this. Animals have image of a cat, word ¡§cat¡¨ is an abstraction for us. True knowledge organizes language. Seing Actual hearing and actual sounding occur at the same time. Berkeley¡¦s famous question¡K¡¨If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make a sound? For Berkeley, to be is to be perceived. Aristotle answers Berkeley¡¦s question that it does make a sound, but you have to have the capacity to hear, it is a joint venture. The mind and the world are not separated like for Descartes. Aristotle doesn¡¦t buy the idea that ¡§everything in my mind can be false¡¨ like the skeptics argue, Aristotle would say this is impossible. Getting things true and false are part of what the mind has to do, but the possibility that the whole mental realm could be p

This book is something that everyone who is interested in truth and beauty should read. Every other philisophical writing is a mere foot note to this book and this particular edition is so accurate that it doesn't leave you wondering why.

How will Virtual Reality and other new technology change you, the way that you feel, and the way that you react to your surroundings? One cannot even begin to answer this important question without first reading De Anima. This masterpiece reflects on the five senses, their relation to each other, and their relation to the 'common sense' (soul) that binds them. De Anima is a valuable insight into the fundamental mechanism that governs the way that we learn, act, and live. New technology is a sword that cuts both ways. Will we become inactive, lose our passion or even our humanity? Written centuries ago, this book will not give you any answers on a platter nor will the word Virtual Reality even be mentioned. This book is, however, filled with timeless wisdom that has survived the ages. De Anima will prove to be an indispensible tool for those who have a sincere desire to study the way that new technology is changing our senses and how these changes may affect the future of our noble race.