ON SENSE AND THE SENSIBLE

by Aristotle

translated by J. I. Beare

1

HAVING now definitely considered the soul, by itself, and its

several faculties, we must next make a survey of animals and all

living things, in order to ascertain what functions are peculiar,

and what functions are common, to them. What has been already

determined respecting the soul [sc. by itself] must be assumed

throughout. The remaining parts [sc. the attributes of soul and

body conjointly] of our subject must be now dealt with, and we may

begin with those that come first.

The most important attributes of animals, whether common to all or

peculiar to some, are, manifestly, attributes of soul and body in

conjunction, e.g. sensation, memory, passion, appetite and desire in

general, and, in addition pleasure and pain. For these may, in fact,

be said to belong to all animals. But there are, besides these,

certain other attributes, of which some are common to all living

things, while others are peculiar to certain species of animals. The

most important of these may be summed up in four pairs, viz. waking

and sleeping, youth and old age, inhalation and exhalation, life and

death. We must endeavour to arrive at a scientific conception of

these, determining their respective natures, and the causes of their

occurrence.

But it behoves the Physical Philosopher to obtain also a clear

view of the first principles of health and disease, inasmuch as

neither health nor disease can exist in lifeless things. Indeed we may

say of most physical inquirers, and of those physicians who study

their art philosophically, that while the former complete their

works with a disquisition on medicine, the latter usually base their

medical theories on principles derived from Physics.

That all the attributes above enumerated belong to soul and body

in conjunction, is obvious; for they all either imply sensation as a

concomitant, or have it as their medium. Some are either affections or

states of sensation, others, means of defending and safe-guarding

it, while others, again, involve its destruction or negation. Now it

is clear, alike by reasoning and observation, that sensation is

generated in the soul through the medium of the body.