Parts of the Soul and the Relation between Reason and Emotionality in Aristotelian Virtue

Abstract

I take as a starting point the distinction made by Aristotle in NE I 13 between two functions of the soul that take part in reason, and I argue that both are proper of the human soul (i.e. not shared as such with other non-rational animals). My further aim is to emphasize the integration of emotions and reason in Aristotle’s practical rationality, against dualistic readings of the Aristotelian ethical virtue, that segregate the functions of reason and sensibility. Thus, I defend that reason has a direct influence on emotions, although this influence is not to be understood, as some authors suggest, as a rhetorical persuasion. Instead, the goal of early ethical education would be to make the non-rational part receptive to the mandates of reason.