ABSTRACT
The object of psychology is ‘to discover the nature and essence of soul, and its attributes.’1 The method of dealing with the attributes is demonstration; is there, Aristotle asks, a corresponding method of discovering the essence? He suggests division as a possible method, and in effect adopts it. The first step is to determine to which of the main divisions of being-the categories - soul belongs, and again whether it is a potentiality or an actuality. But at this point a difficulty arises. Suppose that there are different parts of soul, and various species or perhaps even genera arising from the presence of these parts in various combinations; it may then be that there is no one definition of soul. It may be that the primary facts are the different kinds of soul, and that there is no one thing answering to the name ‘soul’ in general, or only a slight nucleus of common nature in the various souls.2
