On the Soul

**Read Περὶ ψυχῆς at the source, before centuries of translation made its language familiar in other forms.**

## The Work and Its World

On the Soul, preserved here as Περὶ ψυχῆς, is one of the works through which ancient Greek literature and thought continue to speak to later centuries. A systematic inquiry into life, perception, imagination, and intellect connects Aristotle's psychology with biology and metaphysics.

On the Soul (Greek: Περὶ Ψυχῆς, Peri Psychēs; Latin: De Anima) is a major treatise written by Aristotle c. 350 BC classifying organisms' souls by their operations. In it, he alleges plants have the capacity for nourishment and reproduction, the minimum that must be possessed by any kind of living organism. Lower animals have, in addition, the powers of sense-perception and self-motion (action). Humans have all these as well as intellect.

Aristotle holds that the soul (psyche, ψυχή) is the form, or essence of any living thing; it is not a distinct substance from the body that it is in. It is the possession of a soul (of a specific kind) that makes an organism an organism at all, and thus the notion of a body without a soul, or of a soul in the wrong kind of body, is simply unintelligible. (He argues that some parts of the soul—the intellect—can exist without the body, but most cannot.)

In 1855, Charles Collier published a translation titled On the Vital Principle. George Henry Lewes, however, found this description also wanting.

The treatise is divided into three books, and each of the books is divided into chapters (five, twelve, and thirteen, respectively). The treatise is near-universally abbreviated "DA", for "De anima", and books and chapters generally referred to by Roman and Arabic numerals, respectively, along with corresponding Bekker numbers. (Thus, "DA I.1, 402a1" means "De anima, book I, chapter 1, Bekker page 402, Bekker column a [the column on the left side of the page], line number 1.)

DA II.1–3 gives Aristotle's definition of soul and outlines his own study of it, which is then pursued as follows:DA II.4 discusses nutrition and reproduction;DA II.5–6 discuss sensation in general;DA II.7–11 discuss each of the five senses (in the following order: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch—one chapter for each);DA II.12 again takes up the general question of sensation;

DA III.1 argues there are no other senses than the five already mentioned;DA III.2 discusses the problem of what it means to "sense sensing" (i.e., to "be aware" of sensation);DA III.3 investigates the nature of imagination;DA III.4–7 discuss thinking and the intellect, or mind;DA III.8 articulates the definition and nature of soul;DA III.9–10 discuss the movement of animals possessing all the senses;DA III.11 discusses the movement of animals possessing only touch;DA III.12–13 take up the question of what are the minimal constituents of having a soul and being alive.

Book I contains a summary of Aristotle's method of investigation and a dialectical determination of the nature of the soul. He begins by conceding that attempting to define the soul is one of the most difficult questions in the world. But he proposes an ingenious method to tackle the question:

Just as we can come to know the properties and operations of something through scientific demonstration, i.e. a geometrical proof that a triangle has its interior angles equal to two right angles, since the principle of all scientific demonstration is the essence of the object, so too we can come to know the nature of a thing if we already know its properties and operations. It is like finding the middle term to a syllogism with a known conclusion.

Therefore, we must seek out such operations of the soul to determine what kind of nature it has. From a consideration of the opinions of his predecessors, a soul, he concludes, will be that in virtue of which living things have life.

## Why It Still Matters

Approaching On the Soul in its original language brings the reader closer to choices of rhythm, argument, image, and dramatic emphasis that translations must inevitably interpret. The work is not important only because it is old: it remains a living point of reference for writers, philosophers, historians, theatre makers, and readers confronting related questions today.

## Author and Legacy

Aristotle was a Greek philosopher whose systematic writings range across logic, ethics, politics, biology, psychology, rhetoric, and literary theory.

Aristotle (Ancient Stageira, 384 BC - Ancient Chalkida, 322 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist who was born in Stageira, Halkidiki, Macedonia. At the age of 17 he entered Plato's Academy, in Athens, where he remained until he was 37 years old. There he is associated both with Plato himself and with Eudoxus, Xenocrates and other thinkers. His works refer to many sciences, such as physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, poetry, theater, music, rhetoric, politics, etc., and constitute the first comprehensive system in Western philosophy.

The period of maturity begins with biological research and its conclusions are the first systematization of biological phenomena in Europe. Aristotle's thought and teachings, briefly described as Aristotelianism, influenced philosophical, theological and scientific thought for centuries until the late Middle Ages.

After the death of Plato, he leaves Athens and at the invitation of Philip II, takes over in 343 BC/42 the teaching of Alexander the Great. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica: "Aristotle was the first genuine scientist in history... and every subsequent scientist owes him something"

As tutor to Alexander the Great, Aristotle acquired various opportunities and abundant supplies. Thus, he established a library at the Lyceum, which became an aid in the production of hundreds of his works. The fact that he was a student of Plato led him to the views of Platonism, but later, after the death of Plato, he was led, more, to empirical studies and shifts from Platonism to empiricism. He believed that all peoples' ideas and knowledge were ultimately based on perception. Many of his works were based on his views on the natural sciences.

In this collection, the author's importance is approached through On the Soul. The work shows how a particular genre or method could become a durable instrument for examining human action, public life, knowledge, memory, and the demands of justice.