A reader writes:
I was listening to Ave Maria Radio approx. 2 – 3 weeks ago, and you answered a question from a listener regarding the kinds of souls. For example, you had mentioned that plants have a vegetated soul….what do humans and animals have???
According to this division of souls:
- Plants have vegetative souls that allow them to live, grow, and reproduce,
- Animals have sensitive souls that allow them to feel and (usually) move from place to place, and
- Humans have rational souls that allow us to have rational thought.
These distinctions go back to Aristotle’s discussion of the powers of the soul but were picked up by the Medievals (e.g., Aquinas). An important point that was stressed by them is that each entity only has one soul, which is the substantial form of the body. Therefore, it’s not that animals have two souls and humans have three. Each soul type includes the functions of lower types.
Yea, but how do we know that this is in fact all true? Because Aristotle said so?
And what about the fact that not all living things can be classified simply as “plant” or “animal”?
Indeed, I don’t believe Aristotle was one of the Apostles, or one of the Prophets.
The Bible says that airbreathing non-insect animals have souls. Apparently the rest do not(?) Anyone who has grown up on a farm can tell you that non-human placental mammals have emotions and thoughts, though not on the human level. Marsupials (possums) don’t seem to have that same animal/human communication that placentals do, neither do birds, yet African Grey parrots can learn as many as 900 words and use them correctly.
I suspect that Aristotle was using a different concept for psyche than nephesh hayyah.
Frank Sheed, in Theology For Beginners gives a good, simple explanation of this point. He says that the soul is the life giving principle and is present in all living matter. Humans have a soul which is also a spirit; it has the power to think and choose.