Psychology
Aristotle's work on psychology is known as De Anima, or On the Soul. According to Aristotle the soul gives the capability of functions like the essence of an object gives definition to matter" (See page on Metaphysics).
Aristotle gives three definitions for the soul of an object.
Growth is the most elementary of the functions made possible by a soul.
Sensation is performed by animals and people, but not plants.
The five senses:
The soul enables sensations. An animal may eat a sweet fruit, and be nourished by the fruit, but the soul makes it possible for the sweetness and texture of the fruit to be perceived.
Memory, Aristotle writes,
Aristotle also defines the difference between remembrance and recollection.
Thought, however, is said to be confined only to people,
Aristotle discusses is the sequence of sensation, desire, and reaction.
According to Aristotle, all non-compulsive movements follow this sequence. The motivation either attraction toward something pleasurable or retraction from something considered to cause pain.
Aristotle gives three definitions for the soul of an object.
- The "dialectical" or the purpose or intention of the object,
- The "physical" or the terrestrial form of the soul’s embodiment.
- The "genuine physical" which is a combination of the previous two definitions to create the soul
- nutrition
- sensation
- imagination
- thought
- the body that is being fed,
- the food that the body is being fed,
- and the soul which provides the initiative for the feeding.
Growth is the most elementary of the functions made possible by a soul.
- Aristotle observed, that although plants "do not even sense or feed themselves, they still grow and mature."
- Other organisms grow, but they perform functions as well. Such as humans, animals, ect...
- This ties in to Aristotle’s idea that as organisms become more advanced, they require and obtain more functions.
- That with each level of function takes into account all others beneath it. (This is also known as "The Circle of Life")
Sensation is performed by animals and people, but not plants.
The five senses:
- sight
- smell
- hearing
- touch
- and taste
- The 5 senses were defined or conceptualized by Aristotle.
The soul enables sensations. An animal may eat a sweet fruit, and be nourished by the fruit, but the soul makes it possible for the sweetness and texture of the fruit to be perceived.
Memory, Aristotle writes,
- "is the persistence of impressions upon the senses."
Aristotle also defines the difference between remembrance and recollection.
- Remembrance is the automatic reproduction of sensory impressions,
- whereas recollection is a willful search for past sensations.
Thought, however, is said to be confined only to people,
- All other animals can only perform imagination.
- Thought may or may not be followed by "action".
- “Action” is movement with a distinct end,
- people can think, which is motion, but not act upon it (take action).
Aristotle discusses is the sequence of sensation, desire, and reaction.
- First an animal uses senses to identify a situation,
- Then it identifies what it desires in the particular environment,
- Finally it reacts.
According to Aristotle, all non-compulsive movements follow this sequence. The motivation either attraction toward something pleasurable or retraction from something considered to cause pain.