On the Soul: and Other Psychological works

Aristotle

touko 2018 · Oxford University Press

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'. . . the more honourable animals have been allotted a more honourable soul. . . ' What is the nature of the soul? It is this question that Aristotle sought to answer in De Anima (On the Soul). In doing so he offers a psychological theory that encompasses not only human beings but all living beings. Its basic thesis, that the soul is the form of an organic body, sets it in sharp contrast with both Pre-Socratic physicalism and Platonic dualism. On the Soul contains Aristotle's definition of the soul, and his explanations of nutrition, perception, cognition, and animal self-motion. The general theory in De Anima is augmented in the shorter works of Parva Naturalia, which deal with perception, memory and recollection, sleep and dreams, longevity, life-cycles, and psycho-physiology. This new translation brings together all of Aristotle's extant and complementary psychological works, and adds as a supplement ancient testimony concerning his lost writings dealing with the soul. The introduction by Fred D. Miller, Jr. explains the central place of the soul in Aristotle's natural science, the unifying themes of his psychological theory, and his continuing relevance for modern philosophy and psychology.

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Fred D. Miller, Jr. is Research Professor in the Department of Philosophy and the Center for the Philosophy of Freedom at the University of Arizona at Tucson, and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Bowling Green State University. He is also an executive editor of the journal Social Philosophy & Policy . He was a former president of the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy. He is the author Nature, Justice, and Rights in Aristotle's Politics , and has co-edited collections including A Companion to Aristotle's Politics, Reason and Analysis in Ancient Greek Philosophy , and A History of Philosophy of Law from the Ancient Greeks to the Scholastics . He is currently at work on a book on ancient Greek concepts of the soul from Homer to Aristotle.