Aristotle's Understanding on "Existence of Life"

Abstract

The "Existence of Life" to some extent implies the "soul", but the concept of the "soul" cannot fully encompass all the meanings of "existence of life" in Aristotle's philosophy, as it holds a broader connotation in his works. The paper first examines the understanding of the soul and life from the time of Homer to Plato and establishes the conditions for the existence of life in Aristotle's sense. It then elucidates the notion of "existence of life" from three dimensions: biology, physics, and politics, encompassing plants, animals, humans, and celestial bodies as various forms of "existence of life". Notably, "human" denotes not only a biological life form but also a political entity. This comprehensive perspective sheds profound insights on Aristotle's metaphysics, biology, political science, and ethics.