Body and Soul in Ancient Philosophy

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David Charles
ing/expanding/pushing/pulling etc. Like anger, they are not simply
necessarily enmattered in some physical process. Rather, one cannot define
what they are without reference to pulling or pushing, heating or
cooling. The latter features are of their very essence. Nor can one define
the relevant type of physical process without reference to their psychological
aspects. This is what I intend by calling these processes ‘inextricably
psycho-physical’.
[B] The expansion and contraction of the connate pneuma is caused by heat and
cold: The heat and cold involved in desire is what affects the size and
shape of the connate pneuma, occasioning processes within it. As Aristotle
notes: “The parts expand because of heat and contract because of cold
…” (701b15 f.). The relevant parts expand and contract in the way required
to move the sinews and bones (701b6 ff.). As a result the animal
moves (when all goes well) in the way required for them to do what
they desire to do.
Aristotle does not spell out what happens in great detail, seemingly
relying on the thought that the heat (or coldness) involved in desire will
impact on the pneuma and occasion movements there (changes of shape/
size etc.) of the type required. As has been pointed out, Aristotle uses
pneuma in a similar way elsewhere: it is the right type of thing to be affected
by heat in the way required to bring about a complex result. 10
Consider Aristotle’s discussion of animal reproduction. Here, the
pneuma’s movements are said to be like the processes of arts (GA
744b32 ff.), when he writes: “the sword is produced by movement of
the instruments employed which contains the logos of the art. For the
art is the starting point and form of what is produced …” The movements
in both cases are as they are because they are the ones required
for the production of the product aimed at: ‘the movements of the instruments
contain the formula (logos) of the craft’. The case of metal
worker (or the weaver) provides a clear example of this phenomenon:
his movements contain the formula (logos) of the art in that one is not
able to define them (say what these processes are) without reference
to the goals of the craftsman and his/her skill. While they are essentially
spatial, there is no defining what they are without reference to the goals
and know how of the craftsman. The relevant movements are the ones
which are guided in the appropriate way by his/her skill. In the earlier
case, the weaver spins, cards the wool and ties the knots in the way re-
10 Freudenthal spells out a general theory of this type (1995).