As has already been said above[74] this hypothesis is inadmissible for
several reasons. To begin with, the soul is prior (to the body), and
the harmony is posterior thereto. Then the soul dominates the body,
governs it, and often even resists it, which would be impossible if
the soul were only a harmony. The soul, indeed, is a "being," which
harmony is not. When the corporeal principles of which we are composed
are mingled in just proportions, their temperament constitutes health
(but not a "being," such as the soul). Besides, every part of the body
being mingled in a different manner should form (a different harmony,
and consequently) a different soul, so that there would be several
of them. The decisive argument, however, is that this soul (that
constitutes a harmony) presupposes another soul which would produce
this harmony, as a lyre needs a musician who would produce harmonic
vibrations in the strings, because he possesses within himself the
reason according to which he produces the harmony. The strings of the
lyre do not vibrate of themselves, and the elements of our body cannot
harmonize themselves. Nevertheless, under this hypothesis, animated and
orderly "being" would have been made up out of inanimate and disordered
entities; and these orderly "beings" would owe their order and
existence to chance. That is as impossible for parts as for the whole.
The soul, therefore, is no harmony.
THE SOUL IS NOT THE ENTELECHY OF THE BODY (POLEMIC AGAINST ARISTOTLE).
ARISTOTLE'S STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM.[75]
(13). b. Now let us examine the opinion of those who call the soul an
entelechy. They say that, in the composite, the soul plays the part of
form in respect to matter, in the body the soul animates. The soul,
however, is not said to be the form of any body, nor of the body as
such; but of the natural body, that is organized, and which possesses
life potentially.[76]