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The Soul

The animating principle of a living thing.

Key Terms

Greek

ψυχή (psychē)

Latin

anima

Across Traditions

Student Synthesis

Greek

Aristotle’s De Anima makes the soul the form of a living body, not a separate substance.

Platonic

Plato argues the soul is immortal and tripartite.

Comparative Analysis

Student SynthesisOpen Question

Where do these traditions agree, and where do they genuinely part? Open the editor to write the comparison in your own words.

Modern AI — the Contemporary Lens

Could the 'soul' be substrate-independent — realised in silicon? The question of machine mind revives the oldest debates about psychē.

Defined plainly: Hard Problem

Related Thinkers

Thinker

Aristotle

Thinker

Plato

Thinker

Descartes

Related Human Questions

Question

What is Consciousness?

Question

What is the Self?