Understanding Aristotle's Views of the Human Soul
Aristotle
Born in the year of 384 B.C. Aristotle was seen as conventional for his time, for he regarded slavery as a natural course of nature and believed that certain people were born to be slaves due to the fact that their soul lacked the rational part that should rule in a human being; However in certain circumstances it is evident that Aristotle did not believe that all men who were slaves were meant to be slaves. In his book Politics, Aristotle begins with the Theory of The Household, and it is here that the majority of his views upon slavery are found. With the beginning of Chapter IV, Aristotle's idea of slavery is clearly defined. "The instruments of the household form its stock of property : they are animate and inanimate : the slave is an animate instrument, intended (like all the instruments of the household) for action, and not for productions." This distinction between action and production, is based upon the understanding that
'production' is a course in which a result is desired beyond the immediate act of doing. Where as, the simple act of completing a task is identified as
'action'. Aristotle, who believed that life was action and not production theorized that slaves were instruments of life and were therefore needed to form a complete household. In fact Aristotle went as far as to say that a slave was comparable to a tame animal, with their only divergence in the fact that a slave could apprehend reason. For he concluded that a slave and animals only use was to supply their owners with bodily help. At the end of the Theories of the Household, Aristotle explains how slaves are different from andy other types of people, in the sense that they are the only class who are born into their occupation and become property of their masters. In examining this relationship we find that he thought that while masters were the masters of the slaves, they still held a life other than that of being master; However, Aristotle believed that not only
Born in the year of 384 B.C. Aristotle was seen as conventional for his time, for he regarded slavery as a natural course of nature and believed that certain people were born to be slaves due to the fact that their soul lacked the rational part that should rule in a human being; However in certain circumstances it is evident that Aristotle did not believe that all men who were slaves were meant to be slaves. In his book Politics, Aristotle begins with the Theory of The Household, and it is here that the majority of his views upon slavery are found. With the beginning of Chapter IV, Aristotle's idea of slavery is clearly defined. "The instruments of the household form its stock of property : they are animate and inanimate : the slave is an animate instrument, intended (like all the instruments of the household) for action, and not for productions." This distinction between action and production, is based upon the understanding that
'production' is a course in which a result is desired beyond the immediate act of doing. Where as, the simple act of completing a task is identified as
'action'. Aristotle, who believed that life was action and not production theorized that slaves were instruments of life and were therefore needed to form a complete household. In fact Aristotle went as far as to say that a slave was comparable to a tame animal, with their only divergence in the fact that a slave could apprehend reason. For he concluded that a slave and animals only use was to supply their owners with bodily help. At the end of the Theories of the Household, Aristotle explains how slaves are different from andy other types of people, in the sense that they are the only class who are born into their occupation and become property of their masters. In examining this relationship we find that he thought that while masters were the masters of the slaves, they still held a life other than that of being master; However, Aristotle believed that not only