Soul Mind And Body - Aristotle’s Views

Question 1

Outline Aristotle’s views on the soul

Answer 1

• Aristotle rejects Platos belief that the body and soul are two distinct substances
• Using observation and Sense experience he concludes humans are made up of a body and a soul
• He says the body and soul are one single unity that cannot be separated from each other. This belief is monism
• The body and soul are inseparable

Question 2

How does Aristotle illustrate his views on the soul

Answer 2

• Aristotle illustrates his views on the soul using a wax seal example. He says the imprint stamped into the soft wax is inseparable from the wax itself - it cannot be removed because the imprint and soft wax are one single unity
• In the same way he says the soul and body are inseparable and the soul cannot be removed from the body

Question 3

What do Aristotle’s views about the soul lead to him believing about life after death

Answer 3

The belief that the body and soul are one unity means that the soul cannot exist without the body so there can be no life after death

-This means when you die your soul dies and so you go back to being a lump of material and there is no person left

Question 4

How does Aristotle illustrate that the soul cannot exist without the body

Answer 4

• Aristotle gives us examples to illustrate that the soul cannot exist without the body
• He asks us to imagine the axe as a living thing and then see how it’s soul would be its ability to chop wood ( as if it didn’t chop it would be nothing but matter). He then says the capacity to chop however would not have existence without the axe itself. In the same way he says the soul can’t exist without the body

In a similar way he asks us to imagine the eye to be a living thing and how it’s soul would be its capacity to see. He says however that the capacity to see would not exist without the eye itself and in the same way the soul doesn’t exist without the body

Question 5

Who does Aristotle believe has a soul

Answer 5

Aristotle believes all living things have a soul

Question 6

How does Aristotle believe the souls are arranged

Answer 6

Aristotle believes the various types of soul are arranged into a hierarchy

• At the bottom there is the vegetative soul which plants have. They have the capability to get nourishment and reproduce
• In the middle there is the perceptive soul which animals have. They have senses with which they experience the world, react to stimuli and distinguish between pleasure and pain
• The highest form of soul however is the intellectual soul which humans have. They have the ability to reason and tell right from wrong

Question 7

What example does Aristotle use to distinguish between living and the dead

Answer 7

-Aristotle uses the example of a chicken to demonstrate the difference between the living and the dead. Aristotle observed that the living and dead chicken both have matter but the dead chicken no longer clucks, peaks or walks

Question 8

What does Aristotle conclude from his observations with the chicken

Answer 8

-Aristotle concludes that the change between the living and the dead chicken is because the formal cause,the soul , has died within the body

Question 9

How does Aristotle link the body and soul to his four cause theory

Answer 9

• Aristotle says the body is the material cause of a human but the soul is the formal cause
• The soul animates the body i.e gives it life and it organises the person from a potential living body into an actual living body -Otherwise the person would just be matter
• The soul is the final cause as the purpose of the soul is to live a good life

-Aristotle also explains the soul is the efficient cause of the body as it brings it about/ animates it