Ancient Philosophy WIP series: Mary-Louise Gill

A series with work in progress lectures on topics in Ancient Philosophy. This week's topic: Mary-Louise Gill, Topic: Soul as Final Cause in Aristotle's Natural Philosophy Aristotle defines the soul as the form and first actuality of a natural body that has life potentially, contrasting first actuality, instanced by knowledge, with second actuality, instanced by theorizing, the active display of knowledge. The soul as form and first actuality manifests itself in the life-activities characteristic of the organism, and many scholars think that those activities are the end—the final cause—of a living organism. While I agree that life-activities are ends, in this paper I will argue that activities of mortal creatures are proximate final causes, which enable the form to lift itself up and to articulate and maintain its bodily parts. Life-activities, such as feeding, perceiving, and moving about in one’s location, have a use, a further goal: the enhancement and preservation of the organism itself and its soul, the first actuality. The soul unifies and maintains the living creature as the living creature it is: the living body and its activities serve that end, the soul.