THE GREEK ATTITUDE 



begotten only by like animals with spontaneous gen- 

 eration because he had no knowledge of the third 

 stage of the larva which intervenes between the egg 

 and the adult in most insects. 



Throughout the whole discussion of Aristotle's bio- 

 logical work we find he is primarily attempting to 

 illustrate the fundamental principle of design in the 

 mind of the Creator of the universe. Because of this 

 perfection of design: "We must postulate the prin- 

 ciples we are accustomed constantly to use for our 

 scientific investigation of nature; that is, we must 

 take for granted principles of this universal character 

 which appear in all Nature's work. Of these one is 

 that Nature creates nothing without a purpose, but 

 always the best possible in each kind of living crea- 

 ture by reference to its essential constitution. Accord- 

 ingly if one way is better than another that is the way 

 of Nature."^^ So every part of the body has some pre- 

 destined function, and we may say that the soul is the 

 function of the entire body for the organ is made for 

 the function and not the function for the organ. Thus 

 the heart is the seat of vital functions, the head of the 

 reasoning functions, and so on. The principles by 

 which the organs function are the four abstractions : 

 heat and cold, moisture and dryness. And, however 

 acute his observations often are, he is led into gross 

 blunders by his attempts to apply these principles to 

 the actions of the organism, as when he states that 



^^ De Incessu, 704 b. 



Z59l 



