The Concept of Human Soul - Essay Example

?The Human Soul The Human soul is an interesting concept. Many believe that the soul in itself does not exist. But contrary to their belief, there are others who believe that the soul is a complex faculty allowing people to think, feel, and be a certain way. Aristotle’s De Anima explores the idea of a soul and the actuality and potentiality of a soul itself. The knowing and the attending are parts of the soul’s actuality. In De Anima, by Aristotle, we see that there is a distinction between the “knowing” and the “attending.” This is considered Aristotle’s two levels of actuality. This actuality is in the place of physical beings. For Aristotle, the soul is not an object in material form, but it does somehow still exist within the body. Only the things which have life can have a soul. Without life, a soul cannot exist. The soul comes from life and life cohabitates with the soul. However, there are faculties of the soul and it is clear that the faculties state that the living things differ from the nonliving things. Those who are alive have certain characteristics. These characteristics are intellect, sensation, movement, or rest. The organisms which are living, have faculty and principle or reason. Because of this principle, life belongs to the living and this was inherited based on the principle. The question is: what constitutes the living? The ability of sensation, the touch and the ability to grow and to decay can be answer the question. The soul is a mix of several faculties and each part of the faculties make up a part or the whole soul itself. Each living thing needs to have the ability to reproduce and possess the nutritive soul. Aristotle says that plants do not have this faculty, but they do absorb nutrients but lack sensation with which they do this. The other part of the soul is sensation, which is the ability to feel pain and pleasure. Some animals are capable of feeling all sensation, others can only feel some and even yet others, only one. This is what makes humans different from animals. The main aspect of sensation is touch. Some can have touch and taste. Touch can exist without taste but taste cannot exist without touch. Taste is extremely necessary for the distinction of foods. The Soul is divided into several principles and the first of these principles is in charge of the locomotives and different types of movements such as growth, alteration, decay, sensation of space. It is believed by Aristotle that the function of the soul is ‘imagination’ for fantasy. The imagination is greatly different from thought and sensation. The soul itself cannot be captured or let go. The soul cannot essentially be found or lost. Religious people believe that the soul is given from God. Organisms who can reason and know right from wrong are said to have a soul. Without the distinction, and the knowledge, a soul does not exist. The person’s ability to be an individual is determined by their free will. People are not just put on this planet to be ordered around like robots. However, with the apparent presence of the soul, we have a freedom that is different from animals who live their life based on instincts. The soul however, has nothing to do with a person’s identity or individuality. The soul is formed the same in every person. It is a capacity, not the thing that has the capacity. When we use imagination, which is one aspect and purpose of the soul, we are able to see something or feel something through the eyes of the soul which is in us, but not us. The soul therefore is a verb, is an act and not a noun or thing. Aristotle uses the word fantasia or fantasy for visualization, or retention of past sensations, He says that fantasy occurs at two levels: the sensitive or the deliberative. We all know that nature is organized in a hierarchal way. It starts with the intimate object. Aristotle decided to develop a scale of living beings which predicted the scale of evolution. His erratic thoughts on the soul and it not being a material thing does not really encompass any other belief system except maybe the Hebrew belief system. But the idea of the soul, not being materialistic can be equated to the trinity in its 3 in once concept of a God. The soul is similar to a spirit and the spirit can only be seen through the eyes of the beholder. Others believe that the soul is a physical being and dies when the physical body dies. The actuality of the soul is that humans are an objective form. The body is not the actuality of the soul, but the soul is an actuality of what makes up the body. With this being said, the soul cannot exist without the body as it needs a home, the body is that home. But the soul itself cannot be the home or the body. The soul is not the body itself but it is something that resides in the body. Potentiality states that the body has the potential to be part of the soul but it is not the soul. The soul, with all of its faculties, make up the characteristics of the soul which embraces the body and uses the body as a home to manifest itself into a realistic form that takes on living beings. The soul is an actualization possesses a potentiality to be what it is (in act). The soul functions in a more general sense as well and it acts as a vital principle in animal life as a heat or connate spirit which is located in the heart but it is also used as fertilizer with the purpose of reproducing. So, to be able to differentiate between the knowing and the attending one has to dig deep into what the soul means to Aristotle. Knowing includes the knowledge of a person and attending deals with the physical standing of the person. One can be present but know nothing but one cannot know without being present. Aristotle relates the knowing and the attending and compares them to beings awake and being asleep. Someone who is a knower is a being, and holds some degree of intelligence. Essentially, a knower is someone who has potential to know but really does not know. Someone who is attending is the act of being wake and not just faking the knowledge but actually being knowledgeable because they truly are aware of those around them. The fact that Aristotle divided the souls in three ways is extremely important. He is therefore stating that everything has and he illustrated this by explain his three different souls. His idea of the soul being the form in which we live or choose if phenomenal. For humans, we can choose this form. We choose the way we want to turn out. Animals on the other hand live through instinct. A plant has a soul and this deals with the nutrition and the reproduction. The animal soul has the basic functions of a plant soul and also instinct and drive. A human has the same functions of an animal but includes sense for justice and intellect. Because the human soul is such a touchy topic, there are many different perspectives on what it looks like, how it functions and if it truly is what it is. Many believe that the soul in itself does not exist. Regardless of their beliefs, there are others who believe that the soul is a complex faculty allowing people to think, feel, and be a certain way. Aristotle’s De Anima distinguishes between actuality and potentiality. His idea of actuality includes the idea of knowing and attending which is essential the wake and sleep stages. The soul faculties in themselves have the potentiality to be what it is; a soul that is not the body but in the body existing and creating freedom with each person. It has no bearing on a person’s individuality. Works Cited Cohen, S. Mark. Aristotle on the Soul. 2004. 30 April 2011 . Hillar, Maria. Center for Sociene Studies. 2003. 30 April 2011 . Read More