Episode 130: Aristotle’s “De Anima”: What Is Life? (Part Two)

Summary: Continuing on De Anima, books 1 and 2. We talk about the nutritive part of the soul, which is the only kind plants have, and the perceptive part, which animals have too, which for Aristotle means they have (or many of them have) imagination too. We grapple more with types of causation and what Aristotle means by forms. How does the soul "cause" the living body?<br> Listen to part <a href="http://partiallyexaminedlife.com/2015/12/28/ep130-1-aristotle-biology/" target="_blank">one first</a>, or get the ad-free <a href="http://partiallyexaminedlife.com/2015/12/27/ep130-aristotle-biology-citizen/" target="_blank">Citizen edition</a>.<br> You can follow along in the text if you'd like via <a href="http://people.exeter.ac.uk/sp344/0198240848%20-%20De%20Anima%20Books%20II%20and%20III%20(With%20Passages%20From%20Book%20I)%20-%20Aristotle,%20Christopher%20Shields,%20D.%20W.%20Hamlyn.pdf" target="_blank">this online translation</a> by D.W. Hamlyn. Or check out this <a href="http://www.focusing.org/aristotle/" target="_blank">line-by-line commentary</a> by Eugene T. Gendlin.<br> There are many ways to <a href="http://partiallyexaminedlife.com/support/" target="_blank">support PEL</a>.<br> End song: "Intermission Song" from the 1993 <a href="http://marklint.com/samples.html" target="_blank">Mark Lint</a> album Spanish Armada: Songs of Love and Related Neuroses.<br> Aristotle picture by Genevieve Arnold.<br>