Monday, February 18, 2013

Aristotle's De Anima Books II and III Outline


Introduction to Philosophy
Instructor:  James Ransom
December 3, 2012
Aristotle, De Anima Book II Outline
Chapter One: Definition of Soul
412a3-11 Soul is the actual (entelechia)form of a natural body that has life as its potency,
412a11-19 De minimus requirement for soul: composite natural bodies w/ self-nutritive life
412a19-27 Soul is substance as form of a natural body having life in potentiality (dunamei) a19-21
412a27-b9 Soul is the first actuality (entelechia protei) of a natural body; of an instrumental (organikou) body
412b9-413a10 Definition applies to a soul as it subsists in an ensouled, living body

Chapter Two:  What is Life?
413a11-31 The ensouled is distinguished from the nonensouled by living 413a20-22.  Self-nutrition is the litmus test.
413a31-b10 Nutritive capacity is the necessary condition for mortal life;  Perception, the condition for animal life.
413b11-414a3  The nutritive, perceptive, intellective and motive powers are unified and interrelated, yet distinct.
414a4-28 The soul is the cause by which the animal engages in the life functions: living, perceiving, knowing etc.

Chapter Three:  How Powers of Soul are Distributed and United in the Soul
414a29-b-19 Different classes of living beings possess nutritive, perceptive, desiderative, motive, intellective powers
414b20-415a13 There is a strict sequence of powers of soul with calculation and thought least widely shared

Chapter Four:  The Nutritive Faculty:  Its Object and Subfaculties
415a14-22 The nutritive capacity in all its operations saves (safeguards, preserves) the living thing.
415a22-b7 The nutritive faculty includes reproduction.  Cf Plato, Symp. 207d1, “mortal nature seeks to be immortal”
415b8-416a18 The soul is the cause and principle of the living body. 3 ways: As mover, as end, and as substance (form).
416a18-b9 Food is changed qualitatively (i.e. digested) by the body being fed, rather than the reverse.
416b9-31 (1) what is being fed? is the ensouled body. (2) Fed by what? food. (3) What feeds it ? the nutritive soul

Chapter Five:  Perception and Alteration; Kinds of Knowledge; Potentiality and Actuality
416b32-417a20 Perception is a case of being moved and being acted upon.  Perception is alteration. 
417a21-b16 A person may lack knowledge entirely, have knowledge without using it, or employ the knowledge possessed.
417b16-27 A person may think whenever he likes, but to perceive it is necessary that there be the sensible object.
417b28-418a6 In a sense a child is “capable of serving as a military general, “ in another sense not.

Chapter Six:  The Three Sorts of Sensible Objects: Two Sensible in Virtue of Themselves, One by Accident
418a7-16 Two sorts are sensible virtue of themselves:  proper [to vision, hearing, taste, etc.] and common. 1 sort by accident
418a16-20 Common sensibles include motion, rest, number, figure, magnitude [unity, roughness, sharpness…]
418a20-25 Accidental:  e.g., when perceiving sweet honey by sight, its sweetness only accidentally perceivable by sight

Chapter Seven:  Vision, Medium and Object
Chapter Eight: Hearing, Sound and Voice
Chapter Nine: Smell and Odor
Chapter Ten: Taste is a Contact Sense; the Tasteable

Chapter Eleven: Touch and the Tangibles
422b17-34 Unlike the other senses, touch is a contact sense. Aporia:  multiple senses of touch?  Answer: No
422b34-423a21 Taste and touch are distinguishable: tongue serves for perceiving flavors, rest of flesh cannot
423a21-b26 Sight perceives the invisible as well as the visible; touch the intangible as well as the tangible. 
423b26-424a10 The sense organ of touch is capable of touching tangibles and is that organ in which the sense of touch inheres

Chapter Twelve: Perception is Reception of Form Without Matter
424a17-24 A sense is that which is receptive of the sensible forms without the matter.  Wax receives seal, not the signet
424824-b18 Extremes of sensible objects destroy the sense organ, e.g., damage caused to musical instrument by banging it



Introduction to Philosophy
Instructor:  James Ransom
December 5, 2012
Aristotle, De Anima Book III Outline
Chapter One:  In the World as It Is There Can Be but the Five Senses
424b22-425a13 We have a complete set of senses and sense organs for all available sensible objects.
425a14-30 Awareness of common sensibles derives from motion of bodies outside the percipient animal
425a30-b3 Because senses are connected as central sense faculty, they can perceive objects of other senses accidentally
425b4-11  To discriminate the various sensibles, there must be more than one sense, but no more nor less than exactly five

Chapter Two:  Sense Joins in a Common Power so that the Five Senses Are Subfaculties of A Central Sense Faculty
425b12-25 Through perception, senses become aware of themselves and we become aware that we perceive
425b25-426a27 Actuality of the object of perception and of the sense are identical but their being is not identical

Chapter Three:  Distinguishing Sense and Thought; What is Phantasia?
427a17-b6 Perceiving and understanding not identical; for all animals have a share of perception, but few of understanding
427b6-16 Sense of proper sensibles is always true, while thought (noein) can be false or true. Phantasia distinct from both.
427b16-26 Supposition (e.g., reliance on received wisdom, doubts, informal hypotheses) distinct from both noein and phantasia
427b27-428b9 Phantasia is presentation occurring when things appear not currently being perceived, and illusory perception
428b10-429a9 Phantasia is motion of a sort caused by the actuality of sense perception

Chapter Four:  What is Mind as That Capable of Thinking All Things
429a10-13 Intellect is a capacity that humans seem the lowest level of living being to possess
429a13-b9 While sense perceives perceptible things, mind thinks all things (panta noein)
429b10-22 Mind, like sense, is receptive to objects but surpasses sense in impassibility and separateness
429b22-430a9 Mind like tablet in which nothing is written in actuality but there for may be written on in potentiality (tabula rasa)

Chapter Five:  What Enables Thinking to Occur
430a10-25  The illumined mind has only to act within itself to give rise to thinking.  The separable mind is immortal

Chapter Six:  The Sorts of Intelligible Objects
Chapter Seven:  Phantasia Has a Role in All Thinking
Chapter Eight:  That Mind Can Think All Things
Chapter Nine:  There is a Capacity for Progressive Motion

Chapter Ten:  The Desiderative Capacity is the Primary Cause of Progressive Motion
433a9-30  Both desire and mind move animals, but primarily desire
433a30-b27  Even though desires may be contrary to each other, the desiderative capacity that moves the animal is unified
433b27-30  In order to have desire, the animal requires some cognition (phantasia) to provide it its object
Chapter Eleven:  Even Simple Animals Have Phantasia; Calculative Phantasia Fits the Account of Progressive Motion
433b31-434a5  The incomplete animals possess phantasia appropriate to their sort of motion
434a5-15  The beasts all have sensitive phantasia, but deliberative phantasia belong only to animals possessing reason

Chapter Twelve:  The Necessary Order of the Faculties of Soul
Chapter Thirteen:  The Sort of Body Requisite to Support the Order of the Faculties of Soul

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