Aristotles notion of body and soul
Aristotles notion of body and soulAristotele’s notion of body and soul, and the opinion of this essay’s writer.
What is Aristotele’s notion of body and soul?
According to Aristotle, everything in the world is divided between superior and inferior. Man is superior to the animals, the male to the female, and the soul to the body. “The soul is more noble than our possesions or our bodies”. Therefore, man should act through his soul, and not through his body. The soul services the greater good. If a man does not act from his soul, and thus lets his body rule the sole, he is not worthy of politics, and is a ‘natural slave’. A natural slave is born to slavery. For him slavery is “both expedient and right”, because they let the bodily pleasures, wants and lusts overrule rationality. The people who do let the soul rule over the body are in the ‘perfect state’. Because they succeed in seeing the grand scheme of things, that reason is more important than appetites, they are fit to be the rulers of the slaves.
My opinion on Aristotle’s notion
The superiority of the soul over the body is not as absolute as Aristotle puts it. Most certainly there are many times when the soul is more important than the body. For example, a man sees a very beautiful, married, woman. His body would tell him to try and have sexual intercourse with this woman. In this case it is good that his soul would tell him that committing this action would be wrong,...
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