The Psychology of Aristotle by Clarence Shute

Abstract

358 BOOK REVIEWS avowed aim of a "broader synthesis of science and philosophy," the inclusion of a chapter dealing with the interrelations of these bodies of knowledge as developed by Maritain, Adler, and others might be suggested, St. Joseph's Priory, Somerset, Ohio ELWOOD F. SMITH, 0. P. The Psychology of Aristotle. By CLARENCE SHUTE. New York: Columbia University Press, 1941. Pp. xiv + 148, with index. $2.00. This is a sympathetic, if somewhat unusual, treatment of Aristotle's corpus psychologic·um. It represents a painstaking analysis of all the important texts of the Stagirite, bearing on the problems of the soul and human nature. These texts range from the Physics to the Nicomachean Ethics, with most of the emphasis laid on the De Anima and Parva Naturalia. I have said that the treatment is somewhat unusual. By this I mean that to a Thomist who has habituated himself to reading the Aristotelian texts in the perspective set by Aquinas, there are real difficulties in reconciling Mr. Shute's interpretation of the Stagirite with what we have commonly come to regard as the traditional view. This is not a brief for the tradition; yet it does seem to imply a rightful Thomist claim to a hearing when the exegesis of the Stagirite's texts is at stake. At any rate, one might ask such questions as these: did Aristotle actually teach that powers do not exist except when active (p. 64); that practical intellect is a function of a body possessed of organs (p. 65); that sensation and knowledge (and not sensitive knmyledge and intellectual knowledge) are essentially diversified (p. 87) ; that error is found in sensation (p. 102); that mind is the thinking process itself (p. 100); that the soul is identical with the potentialities of the organism (p. 125) . I am reminded of a remark of Dr. Wolfson at Harvard (a profo•J.nd student of all the ancient and medieval philosophers) that of all the thinkers who labored over the intricate texts of the Stagirite, Thomas Aquinas probably came as close as anyone to understanding the true mens aristotelica. The great Peripatetic unquestionably needs clarifying distinctions and sharpened contrasts in order to grasp the drift of his psychological analysis; and I fear that Mr. Shute, despite the freshness of his biological or organismic approach, has failed to perform these necessary services for the Stagirite. Thomistic 1nstitute, Providence College, ProvidencB, R. 1. RoBERT EnwARD BRENNAN, O.P. ...