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step farther back and have some clear view of the objects of each; thus we
must start with these objects, e.g. with food, with what is perceptible, or with
what is intelligible.
It follows that first of all we must treat of nutrition and reproduction, for
the nutritive soul is found along with all the others and is the most primitive
and widely distributed power of soul, being indeed that one in virtue of which
all are said to have life. The acts in which it manifests itself are reproduction
and the use of food-reproduction, I say, because for any living thing that has
reached its normal development and which is unmutilated, and whose mode
of generation is not spontaneous, the most natural act is the production of
another like itself, an animal producing an animal, a plant a plant, in order
that, as far as its nature allows, it may partake in the eternal and divine. That
is the goal towards which all things strive, that for the sake of which they do
whatsoever their nature renders possible. The phrase ‘for the sake of which’ is
ambiguous; it may mean either (a) the end to achieve which, or (b) the being
in whose interest, the act is done. Since then no living thing is able to partake
in what is eternal and divine by uninterrupted continuance (for nothing
perishable can for ever remain one and the same), it tries to achieve that end
in the only way possible to it, and success is possible in varying degrees; so it
remains not indeed as the self-same individual but continues its existence in
something like itself-not numerically but specifically one.
The soul is the cause or source of the living body. The terms cause and
source have many senses. But the soul is the cause of its body alike in all
three senses which we explicitly recognize. It is (a) the source or origin of
movement, it is (b) the end, it is (c) the essence of the whole living body.
That it is the last, is clear; for in everything the essence is identical with the
ground of its being, and here, in the case of living things, their being is to live,
and of their being and their living the soul in them is the cause or source.
Further, the actuality of whatever is potential is identical with its formulable
essence.
It is manifest that the soul is also the final cause of its body. For Nature,
like mind, always does whatever it does for the sake of something, which
something is its end. To that something corresponds in the case of animals the
soul and in this it follows the order of nature; all natural bodies are organs of
the soul. This is true of those that enter into the constitution of plants as well
as of those which enter into that of animals. This shows that that the sake of
which they are is soul. We must here recall the two senses of ‘that for the sake
of which’, viz. (a) the end to achieve which, and (b) the being in whose
interest, anything is or is done.
We must maintain, further, that the soul is also the cause of the living body
821
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book The Complete Aristotle"
The Complete Aristotle
- Title
- The Complete Aristotle
- Author
- Aristotle
- Date
- ~322 B.C.
- Language
- English
- License
- PD
- Size
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Pages
- 2328
- Keywords
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Categories
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International
Table of contents
- Part 1; Logic (Organon) 3
- Categories 4
- On Interpretation 34
- Prior Analytics, Book I 56
- Prior Analytics, Book II 113
- Posterior Analytics, Book I 149
- Posterior Analytics, Book II 193
- Topics, Book I 218
- Topics, Book II 221
- Topics, Book III 237
- Topics, Book IV 248
- Topics, Book V 266
- Topics, Book VI 291
- Topics, Book VII 317
- Topics, Book VIII 326
- On Sophistical Refutations 348
- Part 2; Universal Physics 396
- Physics, Book I 397
- Physics, Book II 415
- Physics, Book III 432
- Physics, Book IV 449
- Physics, Book V 481
- Physics, Book VI 496
- Physics, Book VII 519
- Physics, Book VIII 533
- On the Heavens, Book I 570
- On the Heavens, Book II 599
- On the Heavens, Book III 624
- On the Heavens, Book IV 640
- On Generation and Corruption, Book I 651
- On Generation and Corruption, Book II 685
- Meteorology, Book I 707
- Meteorology, Book II 733
- Meteorology, Book III 760
- Meteorology, Book IV 773
- Part 3; Human Physics 795
- On the Soul, Book I 796
- On the Soul, Book II 815
- On the Soul, Book III 840
- On Sense and the Sensible 861
- On Memory and Reminiscence 889
- On Sleep and Sleeplessness 899
- On Dreams 909
- On Prophesying by Dreams 918
- On Longevity and the Shortness of Life 923
- On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration 929
- Part 4; Animal Physics 952
- The History of Animals, Book I 953
- The History of Animals, Book II translated 977
- The History of Animals, Book III 1000
- The History of Animals, Book IV 1029
- The History of Animals, Book V 1056
- The History of Animals, Book VI 1094
- The History of Animals, Book VII 1135
- The History of Animals, Book VIII 1150
- The History of Animals, Book IX 1186
- On the Parts of Animals, Book I 1234
- On the Parts of Animals, Book II 1249
- On the Parts of Animals, Book III 1281
- On the Parts of Animals, Book IV 1311
- On the Motion of Animals 1351
- On the Gait of Animals 1363
- On the Generation of Animals, Book I 1381
- On the Generation of Animals, Book II 1412
- On the Generation of Animals, Book III 1444
- On the Generation of Animals, Book IV 1469
- On the Generation of Animals, Book V 1496
- Part 5; Metaphysics 1516
- Part 6; Ethics and Politics 1748
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book I 1749
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book II 1766
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book III 1779
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IV 1799
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book V 1817
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI 1836
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII 1851
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII 1872
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IX 1890
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book X 1907
- Politics, Book I 1925
- Politics, Book II 1943
- Politics, Book III 1970
- Politics, Book IV 1997
- Politics, Book V 2023
- Politics, Book VI 2053
- Politics, Book VII 2065
- Politics, Book VIII 2091
- The Athenian Constitution 2102
- Part 7; Aesthetic Writings 2156