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Wellsprings
soul

Faculties of the Soul

δυνάμεις ψυχῆς

Aristotle's ladder of life: the soul's stacked powers — nutrition, sensation, thought — each higher rung containing the ones below.

Aristotle distinguished three faculties of the soul, each reflecting a different level of life. The nutritive faculty, present in all living things, governs growth and reproduction. The perceptive faculty, found in animals, enables sensation and desire. The rational faculty, unique to humans, allows deliberation and knowledge. These powers are not separate entities but overlapping capacities, with higher faculties building on and controlling lower ones through the exercise of virtue and practical wisdom.

The division of rational faculties into the scientific and calculative proved especially influential in later ethics and epistemology. The scientific faculty grasps universal truths and unchanging principles, while the calculative faculty reasons about particular circumstances and what is achievable through action. This framework meant that human excellence required both contemplative knowledge and the ability to deliberate well about means and ends in concrete situations, uniting theory and practice within a single soul.

Where this idea shows up

42 Greek sources·3 Jewish-canon citations

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