Aristotle Vs Descartes Research Paper

Aristotle and Rene Descartes both try to understand living things. Both philosophers claim the soul makes us the kind of being that we are. For Descartes, being human is a combination of the body and the soul. The body and the soul are completely separate to Descartes. Aristotle believes the body and the soul function together. He thinks about the soul in three different parts. Both philosophers have similarities and differences in their theories and their thoughts regarding the soul and body. Descartes and Aristotle try to understand living things. They both claim the soul makes us the kind of being that we are. Aristotle focuses on the arrangement of body parts. His philosophy states the soul is what causes the total arrangement of the living thing. There are three parts of the soul, the source of growth, the sensory part, and the source of locomotion. Aristotle says, “It is evident that the way to give the most adequate definition of soul is to seek in the case of each of its forms” (Aristotle 7). Each living thing has an essence. Aristotle’s philosophy is based off explaining the function of a living thing. Descartes focuses on the soul and the body. He believes the soul is part of the mind, and the body is a part of nature. The soul and the body to Descartes are completely separate. “The soul by which I am what I am, is …show more content…
The brain processes information, while thinking is part of the soul. Descartes says, “The part of the body in which the soul directly exercises its functions is not the heart at all, or the whole of the brain” (Descartes 2). The brain and mind are different, the brain is a part of the body, but the mind comes from the soul. Descartes’ theory is that the brain is nothing but an organ. The body is like a machine, it’s mechanical. The soul has no location, whereas the brain is located in the body. The essence of the soul is to think. Descartes’ philosophy is that only humans have a