Chapter IV - What Becomes of the Soul (Dialogue on the Soul. Part II:)- In which Aristotle establishes the future of the soul, that which follows death and the destruction of the flesh, to prepare oneself for today.
Night fell in the village of Pélla. One could hear the murmurs of women who, near the pagan temples, prayed to the false gods for the king's health. He was, indeed, dying. Nicomachus, Aristotle's father, was at his bedside attempting to soothe him and delay his inevitable demise.
Aristotle, who was now 14 years old, wandered through the streets of the town, without seeing or hearing anything that occurred around him. What would happen to him or his father if the king died? Certainly, he would not be held responsible, but who knows what ill-intentioned courtiers would imagine, and what acts of revenge could be enacted in these moments between kings?
He stopped near Persephone's temple. He certainly did not believe in the power of these gods, who seemed to him to be no more than dead puppets, but there was almost a secret majesty in this evocation of the goddess of death at the same time.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Epimanos.
Epimanos: "Are you praying for the King, Aristotle?"
Aristotle: "Praying? To whom should I pray? And what should I request?"
Epimanos: "What do you want to request? That he should live, of course! And if you don't believe in this goddess, don't you believe in a superior force who governs our life?"
Aristotle: "That he should live? He is going to die, you know that as well as I do. Our prayers cannot return his youth or his health. He has lived a long time, and it is time for him to leave. No, if I pray, it's won't be for him to live."
Epimanos: "For what then?"
Aristotle: "What happens after life, Epimanos? This unique soul that man possesses and which differentiates us from the animals, does it survive after life?"
Epimanos: "I don't know, Aristotle. My science rests on life and not on death. I can tell you how to live well, how to be happy, and how to understand everyday life, but not what occurs after death."
Aristotle: "You can tell me how to live well? Let us see that. Don't you agree that to act intelligently, it's necessary to know in advance the consequences?"
Epimanos: "Yes, of course, this helps you avoid making mistakes, acting badly, or prejudging the situation. It's important to anticipate the outcome."
Aristotle: "Yes, that's what you taught me when I was younger. However, if that is right, let us take an example: let us imagine that you want to get married. Do you agree that it's a final commitment, and that you must choose well?"
Epimanos: "Certainly! Our laws don't anticipate divorce, and I believe that those who want to get married will regulate their actions to make the marriage a happy one, otherwise it would be true madness!"
Aristotle: "You think as I do that marriage prepares one even before one takes the serious commitment: one tries to correct his defects, to make himself pleasant and good, so that everything is better by the wedding day."
Epimanos: "If everyone took this advice, there would be more happy marriages, but I think that it's necessary to do this in most cases."
Aristotle: "I'm happy that we agree. Therefore, to live well we must know what happens after death."
Epimanos: "Oh!? I do not follow you anymore. What are you trying to say?"
Aristotle: "It's very simple: just like marriage, death is a final event. We must prepare ourselves carefully. If there is life after death, then the life we live before death must be devoted to preparing for life after death. Just as we must spend the time before marriage preparing for married life."
Epimanos: "I see where you want to go. For you, death is just a passage to another life?"
Aristotle: "Yes, and our present life must be devoted to preparing for this future life."
Epimanos: "But why is this future life more important than the present? And how can you be sure that it exists?"
Aristotle: "Do you remember our discussion about the difference between animals and humans?"
Epimanos: "Yes, I remember it very well. You said that there is a difference between the two, that man is intelligent while the beast never searches for anything new."
Aristotle: "Yes. However, how does he search for newness, to create new things both in him and around him?
Epimanos: "Well, if I speak from my own experience, I can say that the ideas came to me and didn't seem to come to anyone else, and that I meditated on these ideas."
Aristotle: "I have arrived at the same conclusion. What struck me is that these ideas did not come from my environment, but from inside me. They seemed...
Epimanos: "Immaterial, no?"
Aristotle: "Yes, immaterial. It wasn't the result of a noticeable effect but rather of an immaterial or spiritual impression."
Epimanos: "I understand. Nevertheless, what conclusions can we draw from this? Evidently these impressions from the soul."
Aristotle: "Yes, but that would mean that the soul is immaterial, but the immaterial cannot come from the material. Nothing can give something it does not have. Don't you agree?"
Epimanos: "Yes, said like that it makes sense. However, where do you want to go with this?
Aristotle: "My father is a doctor, Epimanos, and he often describes death to me: matter decomposes and disintegrates over time. And look around you: death is always marked by the destruction of matter."
Epimanos: "Yes, everything passes through this world, and that which the ancients constructed is already nearly gone."
Aristotle: "But if you take something which is not composed of matter, does it also disappear?
Epimanos: "It does not seem so to me: if it isn't composed of matter, then it cannot disintegrate. It cannot die. In this way, the thoughts of a man like Pythagoras will be eternal and will still be alive in more than a thousand years."
Aristotle: "Therefore, you think that the immaterial doesn't die?"
Epimanos: "With everything we've said up until now, I believe that has been established."
Aristotle: "Then our soul, which is immaterial, must never die. When we die, our body disintegrates, but our soul remains. Our life in the future is this life of the soul. It is for this life that we must, in our bodies, prepare."
Epimanos: "The dying king will therefore live on?"
Aristotle: "Yes, and it's for the happiness of his soul that I am going to pray this evening."
Epimanos: "We will pray together then."
And with these words, the two friends parted. Epimanos returned to Persephone's temple, while Aristotle headed towards the city gate to retreat into the countryside.
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