Thursday, October 25
De Anima
A thought occurred to me today in my Greek philosophy class about the change in the meaning of the word animal. Anima is Greek [Latin, actually] for soul. Thus anything that has a soul is an animal; living, breathing. When the ancients called beasts animals, they were in a sense raising them up; making them just below man, superior over plants and the non-living. However, when the modern man calls humans animals he intends to lower man to the same level of beasts; usually one with no morality and only superior by sheer cunning and brute force.
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5 comments:
Good thought, me amice-
but for the record, "Anima" is Latin. "Psyche" is the Greek. But I think you're basically right. Even "Psyche" in our usage of the word designates something other than "Soul."
Haha, thanks Tom, I should have known that.
De Anima presents the soul as a form or essence of a body and states that bodies (be they plant, animal or human) cannot exist without integrated souls. He argues that the soul is what gives life to an otherwise lifeless being, and that the soul is inseparable from natural matter.
De Anima presents animals as being capable of desire and perception but breaks from mere animals to explain the intricacies of the human soul, which is capable of reason and is best defined as a rational soul. Right thinking is explained as understanding, knowledge, and true belief (not mere perception) while wrong thinking is lack of the three [unity of the three is referred to as intellect].
Plants, then animals, then humans are discussed according to their increasing intricacies of soul based on their ability to sense forms, but the most intricate soul (that of humans) is described as using intellect, a function for which no physiological answer is given.
I definitely don't buy into all of Aristotle's musings....I've actually studied this quite a lot. Isn't the soul your mind, emotions, and right to choose? That's what I always thought. If I'm right, he may be partly on track, but only partly.
Anne,
Thanks for your comment. I have not studied Aristotle too much, but i would agree that he seems to at least be groping in the right direction. I would also agree that our 'mind', our sense of reason, is located within our soul as well as our emotions, desires, and will, but i do not think that our soul is just merely those things. When Jesus sent out his disciples he told them, "do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28). It clearly seems that the soul is something that does not depend necessarily on the body's existence.
No doubt! It's interesting to think that the body can't exist without the soul but the soul can without the body. I wonder if when God breathed the breath of life into man, and man became a living being, if that had something to do with the soul? Just thinking more about it...
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