back to ideas for this text


Single Idea 13275

[from 'De Anima' by Aristotle, in 17. Mind and Body / E. Mind as Physical / 1. Physical Mind ]

Full Idea

We should not enquire whether the soul and the body are one thing, any more than whether the wax and its imprint are, or in general whether the matter of each thing is one with that of which it is the matter.

Gist of Idea

The soul and the body are inseparable, like the imprint in some wax

Source

Aristotle (De Anima [c.329 BCE], 412b05)

Book Reference

Aristotle: 'De Anima (On the Soul)', ed/tr. Lawson-Tancred,H.C. [Penguin 1986], p.157


A Reaction

This is his hylomorphist view of objects, so that the soul is the 'form' which bestows identity (and power) on the matter of which it is made. This remark is thoroughly physicalist.