Aristotle’s De anima

c. 350 BCE

Aristotle (384–322 BCE)

Aristotle’s great work of psychology, De anima, written around 300 BCE, roughly translates as “on the soul.” In it, Aristotle contends that he will present information that has its basis in experience rather than mere dialogue and speculation. Early in his argument, he takes the stance that our understanding of human psychology (emotions and sensations are specifically mentioned) depends on our knowledge of the body and its physiology. One might say, therefore, that Aristotle proposed the possibility of a physiological psychology.

Soul, or psyche, is the vital principle that differentiates the animate from the inanimate world, according to Aristotle. All living things have soul, but there are different forms of soul. At the lowest level, plants have nutritive soul. Animals have sensitive soul, which gives them awareness of their surroundings and means they seek to avoid pain and pursue pleasure. At the highest level, humans have rational soul, which includes nutritive and sensitive soul but adds the additional component of the mind, or the power to think and reason.

For Aristotle, knowledge begins with perception and is built on the input from our senses. When these observations persist, we have memory. This happens in the passive mind, which stores our general knowledge. The passive mind may be thought of as holding potential wisdom, which must be acted on by the active mind through mental operations or reason so that it becomes actualized knowledge—specifically, an understanding of the universals. The active mind is pure thought and is the same in all people.

As an example of the operation of the active mind, recall of past experiences or information is governed by the principles of similarity, contrast, and contiguity. When we recall an event or object, it may elicit memories of other objects or events like it, opposite to it, or occurring near to it in time. These principles of associative memory have continued into our own day.

SEE ALSO Short-Term Memory (1956), Levels-of-Processing Model of Memory (1972)

Statue of Aristotle at his birthplace in Stageira, Greece.