The Soul According to Plato, Aristotle, and Augustine Essay

The Soul According to Plato, Aristotle, and Augustine The soul can be defined as a perennial enigma that one may never understand. But many people rose to the challenge of effectively explaining just what the soul is about, along with outlining its desires. Three of these people are Plato, Aristotle, and Augustine. Even though all three had distinctive views, the similarities between their views are strikingly vivid. The soul indeed is an enigma to mankind and the only rational explanation of its being is yet to come and may never arrive. Plato believes the soul is an immortal separate entity that is entrapped in the body until one dies. The soul is what possess knowledge and remembers what was known from previous lifetimes. He†¦show more content†¦The word soul, which comes from the Greek word psyche, means â€Å"ensouled â€Å"or living things. So consequently, Aristotle must apply a soul to all living things including plants and animals. He recognizes that the soul is complex and attempts to explain its separate parts. It is distinguished on three different levels: the soul of plants, the soul of animals, and the soul of humans. A plant has a nutritive soul because it has the ability to take in nourishment and convert it to life. It can also reproduce. But this is a basic attribute and can be found in all living things so the plant has the least important, or constructive soul. Animals on the other hand have a sensitive soul which is accompanied by sensations and desires in addition to the nutritive and reproductive aspects. Finally, a soul which possesses the ability to think and reason is only existent in humans; our soul has what the other two levels have with the addition of the ability to reason. Aristotle believes the soul and the body are one. This can be illustrated with sight and the eye. The eye would represent the body while the soul would be sight. 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