Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
of overcoming it held out by genetic engineering that we see the true
advantages of a hylomorphic psychology to enhance the discussion. A
hylomorphic psychology suggests that the advantages offered by genetic
engineering are illusory since they at best appear to accomplish what is
the function of the soul while in fact leaving that function untouched.
The body is altered, but the soul is not.
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The basic relevant claim of a hylomorphic psychology is that, as
Aristotle put it, the soul is the first
entelechia
of a body composed of
organs (
organikon
).
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The body is a natural object that possesses life:
meaning, at least, it is capable of nutrition, growth, and reproduction.
But the body in this sense is a composite; its material cause is the organic
material, while the form is the entelecheia of that matter. Entelecheia is
normally translated as actuality, the end of a motion (
kinesis
) or activ-
ity (
energeia
).
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What matters here is its meaning. In talking about
the soul, Aristotle understands the entelecheia to be a sort of transition,
the completion of the body as its life, and the possibility of further activ-
ities (or energeia) of the living being. He points out that there are
two relevant senses of actuality, analogous to the possession of knowl-
edge and the exercise of it.
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Entelecheia in this case refers to the
first sense, the possession. This is because as the first end of a body,
Aristotle means that the soul is the life of the body, the change that a
body expresses that shows its living nature, as opposed to the inert
nature of, for instance, a rock or a statue, but also to be distinguished
from the particular activities that a living being might perform because
it is alive.
Aristotle describes energeia in opposition to kinesis, or motion. A
kinesis has its end outside itself, and it thus is interruptible. A kinesis is
always incomplete; as long as the motion is present, the end has not been
attained, and when the end is attained, the motion is absent. A simple
example of a motion is walking to the store. As long as you are walking
to the store, you are not at the store; when you are at the store, you are
no longer walking to it. By contrast, an energeia contains its own end
(or telos) and cannot be interrupted. It is complete whenever it occurs,
and every instance it occurs. This is why the concept of energeia does
the work of describing the change or process of living for Aristotle. His
illustrations of this include sensing and thinking, but listening to music
or even a child playing are examples as well.
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