Chapter Four: Refuting the Claim That the Soul Is the Cohesion of the Elements; and Chapter Five: On the Diversity of Human Souls

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Chapter Four

On the refutation of the claim of those who said that the soul is the knitting together of the elements

So we say: the body is composed of the conjunction of the four elements (1); and since it is [8] a thing conjoined (2) out of contraries, it stood in need of a cause other than itself to hold it fast in existence, for among those things conjoined in its composition there falls out overpowering and mutual contention. Nor is it the mixture (mizāj) (3) that holds them fast, for the mixture follows upon them, whereas the cause that gathers must be prior to what it causes. Therefore what holds the whole fast is something else — and that is the soul

And again, we sometimes see the body’s mixture longing for a thing and pining to obtain it while the soul holds it back from attaining its object (4); so we know that the one that longs is other than the one that holds back. Therefore the soul is not a mixture

Chapter Five

On the divergence among human souls

Arisṭūṭālīs and a company of the people of learning said: “The souls of mankind are one and all a single nature, and there is no difference among them save by the accidents, the pleasures, and the qualities of the mixtures

— Notes —

[11] 1 ) In the original: al-arbaʻ.

[11] 2 ) In the original: mujtamiʻ.

[11] 3 ) Omitted in the original: al-mizāj.

[11] 4 ) In the original: ḥuṣūl marāmihi.