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book350 BCE

On the Soul

Disciplines:
philosophy of mind
metaphysics
biology

Summary

Aristotle's systematic account of the soul (psyche) as the first actuality of a natural body that has the potential for life — a hylomorphic theory that makes the soul the functional organization of a living body.

Core Contribution

The soul is not a separate substance (contra Plato) but the form of a living body — what makes a living thing alive. Hierarchical soul: nutritive (all living things), sensitive (animals), rational (humans). The active intellect is separate, unmixed, and immortal.

Historical Influences

Aristotle

Intellectual Lineage

No conceptual lineage found.

Allied Works

Nicomachean Ethics Metaphysics The Parts of Animals

Contemporaries & Peers

No recorded contemporaries.

Minds Influenced

No recorded minds influenced.

Intellectual Posterity

No conceptual posterity found.

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On the Soul

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