Medicine and philosophy - Classical Homeopathy Online

216 Aristotle and his schoolthe animal kingdom, in particular for his philosophical anthropology, andto what extent the description of these bodily structures and processes isguided by teleological concerns. However, such a study would have to takeinto account the different levels of explanation on which Aristotle is at workin various contexts as well as the types of context in which Aristotle expresseshimself on these issues. The following typology of contexts (which doesnot claim to be exhaustive) would seem helpful:(1) First, there are contexts in which Aristotle explains the bodily structureswith a view to their suitability for thefulfilment of the psychic functions in which they are involved, for example,when he describes the structure of the human hand by reference to thepurpose it is intended to serve, 35 or man’s upright position with a view toman’s rational nature. 36 This is because he believes that a purely materialdescription of the bodily structures would be just as insufficient as a purelyformal description of soul functions, because it ignores the suitability ofthese structures for the exercise of the powers for the sake of which theyexist and with a view to which they are shaped. As G. E. R. Lloyd summarises:‘whenever he is dealing with an instrumental part that is directlyconcerned with one of the major faculties of the soul identified in the Deanima, Aristotle cannot fail to bear in mind precisely that that is the functionthat the part serves, and he will indeed see the activities in question asthe final causes of the parts’. 37 However, as Lloyd himself recognises, thisis just one of several concerns Aristotle has in the zoological works, and itis not consistently implemented.(2) Secondly, there are contexts in which the ‘mechanics’ of psychicprocesses are discussed in physiological terms. Thus in his explanationsof memory, recollection, sleeping and dreaming, Aristotle goes into great(though not always clear) physiological detail to describe the bodily partsinvolved in these ‘psychic’ activities and the physical processes that accompanythem (e.g. the discussion of the ‘bodily imprints’ in memory, 38 or ofthe ‘reactivation’ of sense-movements in sleep due to the withdrawal of theblood). 39 As I have tried to show elsewhere, these discussions deal with operationsof the sensitive (and perhaps also the intellectual) part of the soulunder rather special circumstances, but they also have important implicationsfor the physiology of normal sense-perception (on which the relevantsections in On the Soul and On Sense Perception are rather uninformative). 4035 Part. an. 687 b 6ff. 36 Part. an. 686 a 27ff. (see below); cf. also IA 706 a 19.37 Lloyd (1992) 149. 38 Mem. 450 a 27ff. 39 Insomn. 459 b 7ff.; 461 b 11ff.40 See van der Eijk (1994) 75–87.