Status Updates From Tre böcker om själen

i can definitely see why this guy inspired so much psychology research. ‘i notice that my heart is beating when i come in contact with something that makes me scared, but that isn’t a rational response to fear - why is that?’

aristotle argues that knowledge is in some ways the same thing that it is knowledgeable of, and that we can’t know things without having a material reference. he raises an interesting question at the end of the chapter- can reasoning comprehend things without boundaries without itself being without boundaries?

one of his more understandable chapters on the nature of thoughts in relation to perception. i can see why this guy inspired so much psychology research

what perceives sight? aristotle argues that because objects that are in motion contain properties of activity and passivity without containing the motion in itself, so too does sight contain the property of seeing without containing sight itself.

if the senses were one and the same organ it would take up a lot more of our attention to perceive things since it would require one organ perceiving multiple things at the same time - interesting point

second book of de anima finished, really really cool to read aristotles philosophical reasoning behind scientific claims that actually turn out being true

second book of de anima finished, really really cool to read aristotles philosophical reasoning behind scientific claims that actually turn out being true

taste and touch are the only two senses that don’t require something in the middle - senses are not entirely separated. why? fascinating stuff

he really said *soft skin* is what makes you talented because of social prejudice against manual labourers and slaves, what a philosopher

the science here is astonishing. greeks thought breathing regulated body temperature? he writes this like it is a given - how did he come to that conclusion?

ah yes the philosophy of tinnitus

interesting that aristotle views impact to be absolutely necessary for the creation of sound - i wonder what he would have thought of smartphone speakers?

something i never considered! in order for you to smell something you have to inhale - so perception is inevitably linked to movement. i’m not quite sure what aristotle’s point is in the previous paragraph on voids, but perhaps that’s the fault of the translator.

first book of de anima finished. aristotle has debunked some prominent philosophical ideas on the soul and why he considers them incorrect- the theory that the soul is composed of the elements, that it’s a number or a point, that it exists in everything and that it is what sets the body in motion. finding it interesting that aristotle considered plants to have a soul - maybe i’ll find out why in later books

it’s interesting that the observations aristotle makes on the harmony theory seem relatively obvious to me when they clearly weren’t to most people at the time - possibly that is part of his legacy, which is fricking cool