Soul as Form of the Body
Aristotle coined a word for a thing's 'completed actuality' — and used it to define the soul as the very being-at-work of a living body.
Entelecheia ('having its end within') is a term Aristotle (4th c. BCE) invented to name full actuality, or realized form, as opposed to mere potential. In On the Soul (De Anima II.1) he uses it to define the soul itself: the soul is the 'first actuality (entelechy) of a natural body having life potentially.' In other words, the soul is the body's form and organizing principle — not a separate ghost lodged inside it. This made soul and body a single substance, an idea that shaped medieval philosophy and resurfaced in later debates over what life and mind really are.
How it traveled
- TimaeusAthens · -360explains
- De animaChalcis · -322explains
- MetaphysicsChalcis · -322explains
- De partibus animaliumChalcis · -322explains
- De Generatione AnimaliumChalcis · -322explains
- De anima (codicis E fragmenta recensionis a vulgata diversae)Chalcis · -322explains
- Vitae philosophorum— · 240explains
- EnneadesRome · 270explains
- Vayikra RabbahTiberias · 600
- HaEmunot veHaDeotSura (Babylonia) · 933
- Duties of the HeartZaragoza (Saragossa) · 1080
- Guide for the PerplexedCairo · 1190
- Tikkunei ZoharGuadalajara · 1280
- Sefer HaIkkarimSoria · 1425
- Akeidat YitzchakTarragona · 1490
- Abarbanel on TorahNaples · 1505
- Avodat HaKodesh (Ibn Gabbai)Cairo · 1523
- Pardes RimmonimTzfat · 1548
- Sha'arei KedushaDamascus · 1572
- Sha'ar Ruach HaKodeshDamascus · 1610
- Ohr HaChammah on ZoharTzfat · 1620
- Kalach Pitchei ChokhmahPadua · 1730
- Da'at TevunotPadua · 1735
- Derekh HashemAmsterdam · 1740
- TanyaLiadi · 1797
- Likutei MoharanBreslov (Ukraine) · 1802
- Maor VaShemeshKrakow (Cracow) · 1817
- Sha'arei AvodahStrashelye · 1820
- Sha'arei HaYichud VeEmunahStrashelye · 1820
- Likutei HalakhotBreslov (Ukraine) · 1840
Key passages(20)
De anima libri mantissa · Alexander of Aphrodisias
Vitae philosophorum · Diogenes Laertius
Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) · Hippolytus
In Aristotelis Libros De Anima Paraphrasis · Sophonias
In Aristotelis Libros De Anima Paraphrasis · Sophonias
De anima libri mantissa · Alexander of Aphrodisias
De anima libri mantissa · Alexander of Aphrodisias
De anima (codicis E fragmenta recensionis a vulgata diversae) · Aristotle
Praeparatio Evangelica · Eusebius of Caesarea
Refutatio Omnium Haeresium (= Philosophumena) · Hippolytus