Aristotle on the matter of mind 221
drunkenness) is the dissolution of movement and confusionK#
Lbrought about bypneuma.^52 How exactly these processes interact
and influence cognitive processes, Aristotle does not make very clear; but it
is evident that he believes that healthy bodily conditions (such as an empty
stomach) may be conducive to a successful operation of the intellectual
part of the soul.^53
Another passage, however, suggests that movementK#
Land even
‘agility’K3 (#Lare essential to thinking and that physical imped-
iment to movement also affects thinking. AtPart. an. 686 a 25 ff.weare
told that man’s body is in an upright position in order to promote the per-
formance of his ‘divine’ function, namely thinking and being intelligent
K L.^54
Man, instead of forelegs and forefeet, has arms and the so-called hands. For man
is the only animal that stands upright, and this is because his nature and essence is
divine. The activity of that which is most divine is to think and to be intelligent; but
this is not easy when there is a great deal of the upper body weighing it downK$
. ( O
$ $ ')
L, for weight hampers
the motion of the intellect and of the common senseK3 1 < #
%
%
% A #
L. Thus, when the weight and the
corporeal condition (of the soul) become too great, the bodies themselves must
lurch forward towards the ground; consequently, for the purpose of safety, nature
provided quadrupeds with forefeet instead of arms and hands. All animals which
walk must have two hind feet, and those I have just mentioned became quadrupeds
because their soul could not sustain the weight bearing it downK( #
3 < :L. In fact, compared with man, all the other animals are
dwarf-like... In humans, the size of the trunk is proportionate to the lower parts,
and as they are brought to pefectionK
L, it becomes much smaller in
proportion. With young people, however, the contrary happens: the upper parts
are large and the lower are small... In fact, all children are dwarfs. The genera of
birds and fishes, as well as every animal with blood in it, as I have said, are dwarf-
like. This is also the reason why all animals are less intelligentK" Lthan
man. Even among human beings children, for example, when compared to adults,
and among those who are adults those who have a dwarf-like nature, though having
some exceptional capacity,^55 are nevertheless inferior in their having intelligence
K*C 3 $
L. The reason, as has already been said, is that in
many of them the principle of the soul is sluggish and corporealK8 :
(^52) Insomn. 461 a 23 – 5.
(^53) It is interesting to note that ancient commentators onDe an. 403 a 16 were already worried about
the implications of this belief for the doctrine of the separateness of the intellect (see Philoponus,
In Arist. De anima I comment.p. 51 , 10 ff. Hayduck).
(^54) Cf.Part. an. 653 a 30 ;cf.Pol. 1254 b 30 and the comments ad loc. by Saunders ( 1995 ). For a discussion
of the various physiological factors mentioned in this passage (Part. an. 686 a 25 ff.) see Coles ( 1997 ).
(^55) For Aristotle’s appreciation of3
!cf.Rh. 1390 b 27 ; see alsoPr. 30. 1 , which exploits this
notion for the explanation of the melancholics’ exceptional performances.