What is the philosophy of mind according to Aristotle?

 

In short, Aristotle's philosophy of mind forms the centerpiece of his overall metaphysical and psychological doctrines. Although he did not really develop a "philosophy of mind" in the sense that would be understood by modern philosophers, his theory of the soul (ψυχή, *psyche*) and its relation to the body provides in many respects the foundation for his thought regarding the mind. Following is a summary of the main points of Aristotle's thinking about the mind and soul:

1. The Soul as the Form of the Body 

In Aristotle, the soul does not constitute substance independent of the body, as one might see in other various ancient philosophies, for example, that of Plato. Rather, the former is the form or essence that provides the principal organization to the latter. From this perspective, the soul has given life to the body and will never exist independently of its physical host. The soul and body are two aspects of the same living being, analogous to the relationship between a statue and the form of the statue.

The soul, for Aristotle, is the *first actuality* of a living body, insofar as it is the soul that makes a body a living body. The body is the *potentiality* that is actualized by the soul.

 2. The Soul's Faculties (Powers)

Aristotle analyzed the soul into various faculties or parts, responsible for different life aspects:

- Nutritive Soul: It is the part of the soul present in all living organisms, plants, animals, and humans; it takes care of growth, reproduction, and nutrition.

- Sensitive Soul: This level is found in animals, and it enables perception-sensation and movement. It includes the ability to feel and respond to the world.

- Rational Soul: Existing exclusively within humanity, this constitutes the reasoning part of the soul, the intellectual principal. It comprises *thinking*, *understanding*, *judging*, and *deliberating*.

 3. Perception and Cognition

Aristotle had a very empirical view of perception. For him, the senses-sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell-are how the soul comes to apprehend the world. The body collects sensory information, and this information is then transmitted to the soul, where it is interpreted.

However, in sharp contrast to Plato, who, in a sense, held that the soul recollected knowledge through its interactions with the Forms, for Aristotle knowledge begins with sense perception. The rational part of the soul abstracts general concepts or "forms" from the particular instances it perceives of the world. This, therefore, means that the mind could perceive universals by the process of abstraction.

 4. The Active and Passive Intellect

In works like *De Anima* - in particular, later works of his - Aristotle distinguished between two aspects of the intellect: passive intellect: it's that part of the mind which receives and stores the sensory data and potential knowledge. It is the receptive aspect of the soul, which is shaped by the material world.

- Active Intellect: This is that part of the mind which actively abstracts the universal forms from the sensory data. It is responsible for understanding, reasoning, and contemplating universal truths. Sometimes, Aristotle's active intellect is described as the "agent" which illuminates the passive intellect.

In some readings, the active intellect is indeed separated from the individual soul and takes on a more divine or universal faculty that, in a way, also gives modern meaning to be attributed to the idea of the mind connecting with some sort of greater intellectual order.

 5. Thought and Reason

The highest function of the human soul, according to Aristotle, is rational thought. The rational soul accounts for both theoretical reasoning-thinking about what is true or real-and practical reasoning-thinking about how to act and live well. In the *Nicomachean Ethics*, Aristotle elaborates on the notion of practical wisdom (*phronesis*) that enables individuals to make good decisions and live virtuously. Reason is never merely a matter of passive reflection, but instead it is bound up with life's ethical and practical dimensions.

6. The Soul and Immortality

Unlike Plato, Aristotle does not believe in the immortality of the soul in the same way. He says that the soul is a principle of life but stands connected with the body and has no existence independent of it. When the body dies, the soul stops working as it used to in life. Nevertheless, the rational soul, by virtue of its active intellect, might have a sort of immortality inasmuch as it could be part of a universal intellect.

 7. Mind-Body Interaction

The thought of Aristotle on the mind-body relation is primarily represented by his denial of dualism, the separateness of mind from body. In its place, he embraced a sort of hylomorphism-the doctrine that everything consists of matter, the body, and form, the soul. The mind or soul and body are closely intertwined; the soul provides life and purpose to the body, and the body offers the means to the soul whereby it interacts with the world.

Summary: Aristotle's philosophy of mind is deeply rooted in his broader metaphysical theories, especially his hylomorphism. He conceives the soul as the form of the body. It accounts for life, perception, cognition, and rational thinking. The mind, as a part of the soul, has various faculties corresponding to the different kinds of life, namely nutrition, sensation, and reason. Knowledge comes through the senses and is processed by the rational part of the soul, which is capable of abstract thinking and practical wisdom. Though Aristotle does not provide a modern theory of consciousness or the mind, his ideas certainly laid the ground for future explorations in the relationship between the mind, the body, and the soul.