10. The Soul as Form of the Body: Three Divisions

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Why Division Rather Than Enumeration? #

• The soul is not directly accessible to sense experience like mathematical objects
• Unlike recognizing multiple squares by comparison, we cannot observe and compare multiple souls
• Division allows us to systematically distinguish the soul from other things and understand its relationship to the body
• Aristotle employs this method in the Posterior Analytics for investigating definitions of imperceptible realities

The Soul as Something of Another #

• The soul cannot be defined as a complete independent substance (like a “ghost in the machine”)
• The soul requires an organized body and is inseparable from living matter
• This is parallel to how time is something of motion (yet not motion itself) and health is something of a living body (yet not identical to it)
• When the body loses its organization, the soul departs

Three Divisions on the Side of the Soul #

First Division: Substance vs. Accident #

• The soul belongs to the genus of substance, not to the accidents (quantity, quality, relation, etc.)
• Evidence: The soul performs vital activities (especially understanding) that suggest substantial existence
• If the soul were merely a quality like harmony, it could not perform these independent operations
• Socrates’ argument in Phaedo: the soul sometimes resists bodily inclinations, proving it is not simply the body’s harmony

Second Division: Matter vs. Form #

• Within substance, the soul is form, not matter
• Matter is pure potentiality; form is actuality
• The soul is the organizing principle that actualizes the body’s potential to live
• Just as the definition of a house involves both its formal aspect (shelter from elements) and its material aspect (stones, bricks, lumber), the soul as form requires organized matter

Third Division: First Act vs. Second Act #

• The soul is a first act—a permanent form that actualizes the body’s potential for life
• Operations (sensation, movement, thought) are second acts that flow from the first act
• Example: When acquiring the science of geometry, the mind is actualized in first act; when actually thinking geometric theorems, this is second act
• The soul remains even in sleep when second acts are suspended; it is the constant ground of vital operations
• First acts endure; second acts come and go

Three Divisions on the Side of the Body #

First Division: Natural vs. Artificial Body #

• The soul animates a natural body, not an artificial one
• Natural bodies possess intrinsic principles of motion and change

Second Division: Living vs. Non-Living Natural Body #

• The soul is of a living body specifically
• Non-living natural bodies (stones, metals) do not possess souls

Third Division: Organized vs. Disorganized Body #

• The body must be organized with proper structure and functioning parts
• The soul requires a body with organs arranged in the correct way
• When bodily organization is destroyed (decapitation, severe dismemberment, death), the soul cannot remain
• This does not mean the soul is the organization, but that it requires organization to inhere in matter

Key Arguments #

The Soul is Substantial #

• From Unity of Experience: When my body is injured or a limb is amputated, I experience this as happening to me, not to something alien within me—this unified experience suggests the soul and body form one substance
• From Resistance to Bodily Inclinations: The soul sometimes opposes what the body desires, demonstrating it cannot be merely the body’s harmony or organization
• From the Impossibility of Multiple Souls in Matter: If the soul were merely the body’s order, the dissolution of that order would dissolve the soul; but the soul’s capacity to resist order proves it is substantial

Why the Soul Cannot Be the Body’s Harmony #

• A harmony or order cannot exist without the thing it orders (just as the order of letters cannot exist without the letters themselves)
• Yet the soul demonstrates independent capacities (resistance, understanding) that suggest something more than mere arrangement
• While the soul requires an organized body, it is not identical to that organization

Why the Soul Must Be First Act, Not Second Act #

• The soul provides the permanent ground for all vital operations
• Second acts come and go (sleeping, waking, moving, resting); first acts remain constant
• Even when the body is not engaged in any operation, the soul persists as the actualization of the body’s life-potential
• This explains how a living thing remains alive through periods of inactivity

Important Definitions #

Ψυχή (Psyche / Soul) #

• The principle of life in living bodies
• The cause of life within living bodies
• The first act of a natural, organized, living body
• That which actualizes the body’s potential for life

Substance (οὐσία) #

• That which exists in itself, not in or through another
• The fundamental category of being
• Distinguished from accidents (quantity, quality, relation, time, place, etc.)

Form (εἶδος / Forma) #

• The actualizing principle; the source of actuality in a composite being
• In the case of the soul: the principle that makes a body alive and capable of vital operations
• Contrasted with matter (pure potentiality)

Matter (ὕλη) #

• Pure potentiality; the material substrate
• That which is actualized by form
• In living things: the organized body that is actualized by the soul

First Act (πρώτη ἐνέργεια / Actus Primus) #

• The form itself; the actualization of potentiality
• In the case of the soul: the permanent actualization of the body as living
• Remains constant even when operations cease

Second Act (δεύτερη ἐνέργεια / Actus Secundus) #

• The operation or activity flowing from a first act
• Examples: sensing, moving, thinking, desiring
• Comes and goes; not permanent like the first act

Examples & Illustrations #

The House Definition #

• Formal Definition (by the natural philosopher): “A shelter preventing destruction by wind, rain, and heat”
• Material Definition (by the natural philosopher): “Stones, bricks, and lumber”
• The complete definition must include both formal and material aspects
• This mirrors how the soul must be understood as form requiring organized matter

Health as Something of Another #

• Health is something of a living body, not of stones or artificial objects
• A doctor investigates health only by examining living bodies
• Health itself is not a body but a disposition or condition of a living body
• This parallels how the soul is something of a body without being identical to matter

Geometry and Science (Knowledge as First and Second Act) #

• Before Learning: The mind is in potentiality regarding geometric knowledge
• After Learning: The mind possesses the science of geometry (first act)
• During Contemplation: When actually thinking about geometric theorems (second act)
• In Sleep: The science remains (first act) even when not actively thinking (second act)
• The science itself—the habit of knowledge—persists; operations based on it come and go

Time and Motion #

• Time is something of motion without being motion itself
• When we say time goes fast or slow, we must measure it by another time—a logical impossibility if time were itself motion
• Yet time is not perceived without some motion occurring
• This analogy shows how the soul is connected to bodily matter while not being identical to it

Blue Moon in the Liturgy (Context on Beauty and the Senses) #

• Berquist gives the example of “Blue Moon” (a song from dance halls) being played during communion
• This illustrates the distinction between operations of the soul that are degraded (second acts involving the senses) and the soul’s permanent capacity (first act)
• Even when operations involving the body are corrupted or mediocre, the soul’s fundamental nature remains

Questions Addressed #

Is the soul a complete independent substance or something of another? #

• Resolution: The soul is something of another (the body); it cannot exist or be understood apart from an organized living body
• Evidence: The soul departs when the body loses its organization; the unity of human experience demonstrates integral composition

Is the soul the harmony or organization of the body? #

• Resolution: No—but the soul requires an organized body
• The soul is not the arrangement of parts but the actualizing principle that requires such arrangement
• Socrates proves this: the soul resists bodily inclinations, which an arrangement of matter could not do

Why is division the proper method for investigating the soul’s definition? #

• Resolution: Because the soul is imperceptible to sensation and not accessible through comparing multiple examples
• Division systematically separates the soul from other things and reveals its relationship to the body
• This follows Aristotle’s method in the Posterior Analytics

Does the soul belong to the category of substance or accident? #

• Resolution: The soul is a substance (though not a complete independent substance)
• Its vital activities and capacity for resistance to bodily inclinations demonstrate substantial existence
• Unlike accidents (qualities, quantities), the soul cannot inhere in something else as a modification

Is the soul matter or form? #

• Resolution: The soul is form, not matter
• Matter is pure potentiality; the soul actualizes the body’s potential for life
• The soul is the organizing principle, the source of actuality in the living composite

Is the soul a first act or a second act? #

• Resolution: The soul is a first act; its operations (sensing, thinking, moving) are second acts
• The soul is the permanent actualization of the body as living
• Second acts come and go; the first act remains constant
• This explains how the soul persists through sleep, rest, and periods of inactivity

Connections to Prior Discussion #

From the Discussion of Emotions (Passions) #

• Anger (θυμός / thumos) involves both bodily aspect (blood and heat around the heart) and formal aspect (appetite for retribution)
• This demonstrated why natural philosophy must consider the soul insofar as it is in matter
• The present lecture explains why: the soul is substantial form requiring organized matter

From the Discussion of God’s Perfections #

• God is spoken of metaphorically as having anger (involving the irascible part) but not literally having hunger or thirst
• This reflects the distinction between operations that involve bodily matter (second acts) and the soul’s capacity for resistance and judgment
• The soul as first act explains why certain operations can be attributed metaphorically but others cannot

From the Psalm Discussion (Psalm 63) #

• “My flesh pines and my soul thirsts… to see your power and your glory”
• The flesh (bodily aspect) and soul (formal aspect) together express the human person’s longing for God
• “Power” (δύναμις) connects to resurrection of the body; “Glory” (δόξα) connects to the vision of God
• This illustrates the unity of body and soul in human existence and aspiration