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Chapter 6 - Harmonic Psychology

from Part II - Earlier Theories of Psychological Motion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2019

Jason W. Carter
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
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Summary

In Chapter 6, I argue that Aristotle suggests that the definition of soul as a harmony of bodily opposites nominally passes the requirement of providing a principle that explains the soul-body relation. However, by appealing to his demonstrative heuristic, he is able to show that no bodily, arithmetical, or geometrical harmonic properties are explanatory of any of the soul’s per se attributes. The results of this criticism, I argue, show that the soul’s power to act as an efficient and formal cause of the body, like in the case of Xenocrates, cannot be explained by identifying soul with mathematical form or geometrical organisation, nor with an emergent entity whose existence is derived from the mixed elemental powers. What Aristotle takes over from the harmony theory, however, is the idea that soul is plausibly a kind of non-mathematical form or determiner (λόγος), and the idea that (some kinds of) soul and living body are likely to be existentially interdependent. By this criticism, Aristotle is negatively constrained to affirm the Hylomorphic Thesis.
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Aristotle on Earlier Greek Psychology
The Science of Soul
, pp. 123 - 140
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

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  • Harmonic Psychology
  • Jason W. Carter, University of Edinburgh
  • Book: Aristotle on Earlier Greek Psychology
  • Online publication: 08 March 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108646321.007
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  • Harmonic Psychology
  • Jason W. Carter, University of Edinburgh
  • Book: Aristotle on Earlier Greek Psychology
  • Online publication: 08 March 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108646321.007
Available formats
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To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Harmonic Psychology
  • Jason W. Carter, University of Edinburgh
  • Book: Aristotle on Earlier Greek Psychology
  • Online publication: 08 March 2019
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108646321.007
Available formats
×