Does Aristotle think the soul is material or immaterial? 

By
Responsive Centered Red Button

Need Help with this Question or something similar to this? We got you! Just fill out the order form (follow the link below), and your paper will be assigned to an expert to help you ASAP.

Order Form

Please choose) of the following topics and write a double-spaced 5-7 page paper, which you should submit by the end of the day 7 March. Please be sure to number your pages and refer to passages from Aristotle by the title of the work, book and chapter numbers and Bekker page and line numbers; these references can be enclosed in parentheses at the end of the sentence in which you refer to Aristotle or put in a footnote.[1]  Please number your pages.
There is no requirement  or expectation that you use secondary sources. If you do, be sure to cite them properly. Any standard system of citation consistently followed (MLA, Chicago…) is fine.  Please submit the paper online before the end of the day on Monday 7 February.
In book I, ch. 1 of the De anima (On the Soul) lays out the plan of inquiry he intends to follow as he investigates the soul. In the first chapter of the second book he presents, with variations, a general formula or definition of the soul as “the first actuality of a natural body which has life potentially” (II, 1 412a27). Drawing especially on these two chapters, explain Aristotle’s conception of the soul by unpacking this formula or definition. Questions that you will want to tackle include: how is this definition related to Aristotle’s views about form and matter, potentiality and actuality, a thing’s nature, the agent and patient of change?  What is meant by first actuality?  Does Aristotle think the soul is material or immaterial?  You may want to bring in some of the faculties of the soul, e.g., nutrition and perception to illustrate your argument.
In Metaphysics IV (Gamma) Aristotle asserts that there is a science of being qua being or being as such that is different from any of the special sciences (each of which has its own domain marked off from that of others). Though Aristotle does not use this terminology himself, tradition calls this science ‘general metaphysics’. What is this science and how does Aristotle argue for its existence. Be sure to explain the use he makes of the analogy to the ‘medical’ and the ‘healthy’, terms which though employed in a variety of ways with a range of meanings are used with reference to one single thing (or focal meaning). How does the analogy apply to ‘being’ and what is the one thing with reference to which we speak of ‘being’? (Do not forget what we learned about the categories; and some material from books Eta & Zeta = bks. VI & VII may be relevant.) Give some examples of the general issues studied by general metaphysics, e.g., axioms, but presupposed by the special sciences.
2b. Like 2 above, but with a different emphasis. After briefly explaining, Aristotle’s account of the general metaphysics as the study of being qua (as) being, concentrate on Aristotle’s account of the axioms and his argument against those who would reject them (Metaphysics, Gamma (IV) chs. 3-5. What does Aristotle understand by an axiom? What does he mean in ch. 4 when he says that it is possible to demonstrate the fundamental axiom, the principle of non-contradiction, in the manner of a refutation (but not otherwise)?
[1] E.g.: ‘Aristotle maintains that….’ (Physics I 1, 184a16).

How to create Testimonial Carousel using Bootstrap5

Clients' Reviews about Our Services