224 Aristotle and his school
inDe an. 3. 3 , Aristotle says that animalsK=*CLperform many actions in
accordance with imagination, some animals, such as the beastsK1 #L,
because they have no intellect (i.e. they have nothing else to guide their
actions except for imagination), others, such as humans, because thinking
K$Lis ‘overshadowed’K
-
Lby emotion, disease or sleep
(De an. 429 a 5 – 8 ).^64 AtPart. an. 653 b 5 , mental disturbancesK
L
are said to occur as a result of the brain’s failure to cool the bodily heat. In his
discussion of the diaphragm inPart. an. 672 b 28 ff., Aristotle remarks that
reasoning and perceptionK
A #
Lare ‘evidently confused’
K
)
Lby the presence of a warm, moist residual substance
in the neighbourhood of the diaphragm:
This is why it [i.e. the diaphragm] is calledphrenes, as if it had some part in
thinkingK L. Yet it does not have any part [in thinking], but being close to
[parts] that do have part [in thinking], it evidently causes a change of the intellect
K < %
L.This is one of the very few places where Aristotle says something about
theplacewhere thinking – if it is anywhere – is located, or at least about
bodily parts that partake in reason; the passage points, not surprisingly,
to the heart, although this is not directly stated and there may be other
candidates as well.^65
In other passages, we are told that within the human species, age is
a factor that influences an individual’s intellectual capacities: very young
people do not yet have the power to think, they are similar to animals (Hist.
an. 588 a 31 ff.; cf.Part. an. 686 b 23 ff. discussed above); similarly, old age is
accompanied by a decay of thinking (Pol. 1270 b 40 and, more hesitantly,
De an. 408 b 19 – 31 ).^66 The influence of age and descentK (
Lon
(^64) Physical factors as disturbing agents in the process of rational deliberation about the right way of
action are also mentioned several times in Aristotle’s discussion of"and pleasure inEth. Nic. 7
( 1147 a 13 – 14 ; 1147 b 7 ; 1152 a 15 ; 1154 b 10 ). What part they play in practical reasoning, i.e. to what extent
Aristotle believes the actualisation of the right premises in a practical syllogism to be dependent on
physiological conditions (‘deliberations’ (
) being ‘kicked away’ (-
) by physical
movement, cf.Eth. Nic. 1119 b 10 ; 1175 b 3 ff.;Eth. Eud. 1224 b 24 ), deserves further examination (cf.
Gosling 1993 ).
(^65) It is striking indeed that although in later doxographical literature Aristotle is always credited with
holding a cardiocentrist view on the seat of the intellect, there is surprisingly little in his works to
confirm this interpretation (onlyPr. 954 a 35 speaks of a 3 !, which is probably the heart;
elsewhere in theProblemata, however, the intellect is located in the head, 916 b 16 ). Cf. Mansfeld
( 1990 ) [and ch. 4 ].
(^66) A striking passage on the correlation between age and intelligenceK$LisPr. 30. 5 , where$is
said to be the only intellectual activity which is present to us by nature, whereas the other forms of
wisdom and skillK
Lare brought about by human effort ( 955 b 26 – 7 ;cf.Eth.
Nic. 1143 b 7 – 9 ).