Blood and animal character in Aristotle's Parts of Animals

Connell, Sophia (2025) Blood and animal character in Aristotle's Parts of Animals. In: Connell, Sophia (ed.) Aristotle's Parts of Animals: A Critical Guide. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 395-429. ISBN 9781009031882. (In Press)

Abstract

On the Parts of Animals (PA) is our main source for Aristotle’s explanations of animal character. This he locates in the qualities of an animal’s blood (or it’s analogue), whether it is hot, cold, thick, then, turbid or pure (PA II.2, 651a16). This chapter sets out the main debate about character in Aristotle’s biological writings, whether it is formal or material, and argues that it is part of an animals’ material nature. While the materials existing in the blood vessels are not put there for the purpose of underlying character, they are often utilised for this end, displaying a complex coordination of material and formal natures. The chapter ends with a detailed analysis of which fluid elements in the body are responsible for underlying character and at which point they emerge in the digestive process. This further clarifies the relationship between animal bodies, nutritive processes, and the character potentials animals possess.

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