388 ALBERT S. MORACZEWSKI 



view the soul and body are not two distinct entities, that is, 

 they are not two actual wholes. Two distinct entities could 

 never make up one ontological person. There would have to 

 be the Cartesian dichotomy of a navigator in a ship, a driver 

 in an auto, a prisoner in his cell. It was Descartes' failure to 

 appreciate the potential nature of the body with respect to the 

 living principle that led to the dichotomy. The converse is 

 likewise true: it was Descartes' failure to appreciate the acti- 

 vating nature of the soul that led him to conceive the soul as 

 an isolated reality. Although the words " soul " and " body " 

 suggest two distinct existents, they are not to be so understood, 

 if a solution to the problem is to be reached. 



Reflection on this point can be developed in two ways. First, 

 the word " body " is really not the same when applied to a 

 living body and to a corpse. The living body not only functions 

 differently from a corpse, but it is different; it is living. One 

 might admit a remote similarity between a living body and its 

 corpse; it is indeed a commonly understood manner of speaking 

 to call both " bodies." But it would be absurd to identify the 

 living body with the mass of matter which remains after death. 

 It might be objected, however, that nothing is discoverable 

 in the living body which is not also in the inert mass of the 

 corpse. It is true that if a chemical analysis were made imme- 

 diately after death or with some means guaranteeing preserva- 

 tion from corruption, the same chemical compounds would be 

 found, with the possible exception of extremely labile com- 

 pounds such as adenosine triphosphate (ATP) or creatine phos- 

 phate. But a physical or chemical similarity is not the same 

 as biological similarity. Biologically a living organism func- 

 tions; a dead one does not. This should suggest that life cannot 

 be identified with chemical activity. Furthermore, even chemi- 

 cal similarity will gradually diminish as the analysis is made 

 further removed in time from the instant of death. This seems 

 to indicate clearly that the principle of life, whatever one calls 

 it, is responsible for the unity and identity of the living 

 organism. 



