[ExI] Is anyone an expert on Aristotle and Life?

[BillK]

2011/12/30  natasha wrote:
> If the psyche* perishes with bodily death but the transhumanist
> perspective proposes the transmutation of matter toward a  posthuman state
> of existence, then body could be assumed to be nonbiological and therefore
> the psyche could continue on in the posthuman or upload state. Right?
>
> *I don't subscribe to psyche being "soul". That is a Western world
> interpretation and I am not convinced it is what Aristotle intended.
>
>

I don't think you can force an ancient philosopher like Aristotle into
the transhumanist frame. He didn't know about evolution, for example.
For him, 'psyche' was a feature of living creatures. That is why the
article commented that it could possibly be similar to the Hebrew (Old
Testament) tradition where 'soul' is the breath of life.
For Aristotle all living creatures have degrees of 'psyche', including
plants and animals. But a dead animal has no 'psyche'.
What he thought might be eternal was 'nous' (mind, or intellectual
soul) that humans have. But he is a bit unclear on how this could be.


BillK