Page "Hylomorphism" Paragraph 9

According to Timothy Robinson, it is unclear whether Aristotle identifies the soul with the body's structure.

According to one interpretation of Aristotle, a properly organized body is already alive simply by virtue of its structure.

However, according to another interpretation, the property of life — that is, the soul — is something in addition to the body's structure.

Robinson uses the analogy of a car to explain this second interpretation.

A running car is running not only because of its structure but also because of the activity in its engine.

Likewise, according to this second interpretation, a living body is alive not only because of its structure but also because of an additional property: the soul is this additional property, which a properly organized body needs in order to be alive.

John Vella uses Frankenstein's monster to illustrate the second interpretation: the corpse lying on Frankenstein's table is already a fully organized human body, but it is not yet alive ; when Frankenstein activates his machine, the corpse gains a new property, the property of life, which Aristotle would call the soul.