Life Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Hylomorphism === {{Main|Hylomorphism}} [[File:Aristotelian Soul.png|thumb|upright=1.5|The [[Soul#Aristotle|structure of the souls]] of plants, animals, and humans, according to [[Aristotle]]]] Hylomorphism is a theory first expressed by the Greek philosopher [[Aristotle]] (322 BC). The application of hylomorphism to biology was important to Aristotle, and [[Aristotle's biology|biology is extensively covered in his extant writings]]. In this view, everything in the material universe has both matter and form, and the form of a living thing is its [[Soul (spirit)|soul]] (Greek ''psyche'', Latin ''anima''). There are three kinds of souls: the ''vegetative soul'' of plants, which causes them to grow and decay and nourish themselves, but does not cause motion and sensation; the ''animal soul'', which causes animals to move and feel; and the ''rational soul'', which is the source of consciousness and reasoning, which (Aristotle believed) is found only in man.<ref>{{Cite book |title=On the Soul |last=Aristotle |pages=Book II |no-pp=y |title-link=On the Soul }}</ref> Each higher soul has all of the attributes of the lower ones. Aristotle believed that while matter can exist without form, form cannot exist without matter, and that therefore the soul cannot exist without the body.<ref>{{cite book |first1=Don |last1=Marietta |page=104 |title=Introduction to ancient philosophy |publisher=M.E. Sharpe |date=1998 |isbn=978-0-7656-0216-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gz-8PsrT32AC |access-date=25 August 2020 |archive-date=13 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413194754/https://books.google.com/books?id=Gz-8PsrT32AC |url-status=live }}</ref> This account is consistent with [[Teleology in biology|teleological explanations of life]], which account for phenomena in terms of purpose or goal-directedness. Thus, the whiteness of the polar bear's coat is explained by its purpose of camouflage. The direction of causality (from the future to the past) is in contradiction with the scientific evidence for natural selection, which explains the consequence in terms of a prior cause. Biological features are explained not by looking at future optimal results, but by looking at the past [[evolutionary history]] of a species, which led to the natural selection of the features in question.<ref name=stewert_williams2010>{{Cite book |first1=Steve |last1=Stewart-Williams |date=2010 |title=Darwin, God and the meaning of life: how evolutionary theory undermines everything you thought you knew of life |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-76278-6 |pages=193β194 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KBp69los_-oC&pg=PA193 |access-date=10 August 2023 |archive-date=13 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230413194752/https://books.google.com/books?id=KBp69los_-oC&pg=PA193 |url-status=live }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page