Medicine and philosophy - Classical Homeopathy Online

Aristotle on the matter of mind 225character 67 is discussed in Rh. 2.12–15; and a passage in Pol. 7.6on the best natural constitution for citizenship in the city-statesuggests a correspondence between environment on the one handand intelligence and courage on the other (1327 b20ff.): while the inhabitants of cold regions and of ‘Europe’ are courageousbut defective in intelligence and skill and the inhabitants of Asia intelligent but lacking in spirit , the Greeks represent a meanboth geographically and in virtue of their character as determined by theirphysical constitution . 68There are also the well-known passages on states of the blood that are ofinfluence on thinking. At Part. an. 648 a 2ff. we are told that while thick andwarm blood produce strength, thinness and coldness of the blood are conduciveto sharper intellectual and perceptive capacities ( ), and this also applies tothe substance analogous to blood in bloodless animals: ‘This is why bees andother similar animals are naturally more intelligent () thanmany blooded animals, and of the blooded animals, those with cold and thinblood are more intelligent than their counterparts.’ The best combinationof properties – in actual fact a sort of compromise – is blood that is warm,thin and pure, which makes the animal both intelligent and courageous.This indicates that thinness is apparently more important for intelligencethan coldness, which is confirmed by Part. an. 650 b 19ff., where we aretold that some animals have a more subtle intelligence ( ), ‘not because of the coldness of the blood, but rather becauseof its being thin and pure’ ( ); and he adds that more ‘earthy’ blood does not have thesecharacteristics. 69 Thinness and purity of the bodily moisture (blood or itsanalogue) are also said to make sensation more agile (), andthis accounts for the fact that some bloodless animals (with a thin and puremoisture) have ‘a more intelligent soul’ ( ) thansome blooded animals – an important remark indicating that not the blooditself, but its state is conducive of intelligence. The chapter proceeds withsome remarks about the influence of blood on character () and concludesthat blood is the cause of many things, in the sphere both of character67 I have discussed the ‘ethopoietic’ influence of bodily factors (such as the size of the heart, Part. an.667 a 11ff.) in ch. 5 above.68 Cf. Pr. 14.15 and the Hippocratic Airs, Waters, Places 16 (2.62ff. L.).69 On ‘earthiness’ cf. Part. an. 686 b 28ff. discussed above (see n. 57), and see Althoff (1992) 73, 80.