Aristotle, Freud: Unveiling Human Nature’s Depths
Aristotle on the Human Soul (384-322 BC)
Aristotle, a pupil of Plato, diverged from Plato’s theory of Ideas, positing that reality is more than what we perceive through our senses. He believed in a world beyond Plato’s sensible world, where individual beings are composed of matter and form (the hylemorphic theory).
What is the Essence of a Human Being?
Like all of nature, a human is a composite of matter and form. The body is the matter, and the soul (psyche), which is immaterial, organizes this matter. The soul is the essence of a human being, defining what it is and not something else. Body and soul form an indissoluble unity and cannot exist separately. The body is corruptible, and with its death, the soul also dies, thus it is not immortal.
The body and the soul are not separate entities but form an organic whole where operations involve both. Emotions like anger, courage, joy, love, and hatred require the body for expression. In Aristotle’s view, the soul is the vital principle. What is alive differs from what is inert because it can move itself; hence, it is animated (has a soul). Therefore, all living beings have a soul, but not all souls have the same capabilities or functions.
Aristotle’s Three Types of Soul:
- The Vegetative Soul: Found in plants, providing the capacity for nutrition, growth, and reproduction.
- The Sensitive Soul: Found in animals, adding perception, desire, and local movement to the previous capabilities.
- The Rational Soul: Unique to human beings, granting the capacity to think, reflect, and make conscious, voluntary, and free choices.
Sigmund Freud: The Hidden Side of Human Beings
Through psychoanalysis, Freud revolutionized ideas about human nature. He proposed that mental illness isn’t always due to physical injuries but often stems from traumatic childhood experiences. These experiences, though seemingly forgotten, cause disturbances in behavior, leading to the concept of the unconscious.
What is Man, According to Freud?
The unconscious holds traumatic childhood experiences that appear forgotten but remain active, causing psychic conflicts. Biological instinctual forces constantly determine our actions. This implies that man is not entirely conscious, and not everything within him is rational.
The human being is primarily conceived as a being driven by biological impulses seeking continuous satisfaction. If satisfaction is not met, tension and pain increase, leading to frustrations and aggression. Satisfying these drives leads to relaxation and pleasure. The most crucial drive is the libido. Freud uses the concept of sexuality to refer to any part of the body used to seek pleasure and emotional satisfaction, making it sensible to discuss child sexuality.
Reasoning
Reasoning is a mental process (like imagination and memory) characterized by a step from one or more statements (the premises) to another (the conclusion) that necessarily derives from them.
Key Aspects of Reasoning:
- Method: Reflects the logical structure of reasoning, showing the logical relationships between propositions in the premises and the conclusion.
- Content: The subject matter, the set of statements that describe the world in the premise and conclusion (describing the set of events).