What's the difference between Plato and Aristotle's view on the soul?

Plato had a dualist notion of body and soul. His ideas were wrapped up in his theory of the Forms, as he believed that the soul was the only thing that mattered, and that the body was a hindrance to it, going as far as saying the body was a "prison" for the soul. Plato believed that the purpose of the soul was to escape the burden of the body, and reach the Realm of Forms. Aristotle, however, believed the opposite. His was a very monist view. He saw the body and soul as inextricable; the soul shaped the body. He used the analogy of an imprint in wax. The imprint cannot be separated from the wax as it is inherently a part of it, much in the same way the soul is inherently part of the body. Aristotle believed all life-forms had a soul, but humans were the only ones with the faculty of reason.

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Answered by Harry B. Philosophy and Ethics tutor

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