Within Aristotle’s philosophy, the study of the soul forms a section of Physics, subordinate to Metaphysics. Aristotelian psychology is concerned with researching and investigating the principle of life in general and, consequently, living beings, which possess within themselves a principle of motion. The soul coincides with this principle and is the substantial form, the first act of the living. Through numerous methods (inductive, dialectical, analogical, behaviourist) and building upon his formidable metaphysical-ontological framework, Aristotle elaborates the famous tripartite division of the soul, develops the data into rigorous definitions, overcoming both naturalism and psychological dualism, and reaches conclusions that Hegel, two thousand years later, would regard as the work of ‘concrete speculative genius’.
Whilst plants and animals act unconsciously, the human race, according to Aristotle, is called to a higher destiny: to live consciously for the Universal, to value life up to the highest levels of spiritual activity.
