This excerpt explains Aristotle's treatise titled de Anima, meaning "of the soul." The author explains that the Aristotle's concept of the tripartite soul is actually incredibly misleading because the word "soul" insinuates some sort of religious connotation like those tied in with Plato or Christianity. The reason that this is an issue is because Aristotle lived before Christianity, therefore his theories do not actually support that belief. Instead, Aristotle believes that the soul is the "form" of a living thing. However, the word form is misleading because Aristotle does not believe that the soul has a definite shape, rather that the soul is what makes something be alive. Most simply, Aristotle believes that a soul is essentially what causes one being to behave distinctively from other living things.The author then examines what it is that makes a living thing be "alive," he analyzes the assumption that the two things that make us alive are metabolism and reproduction. However, what makes us, as animals different from other living things such as plants is sense-perception, desire, and self-movement. What human beings possess that separate them from animals is the capacity for thought and intellect. This distinct capability is best expressed through language, reasoning, and the ability to make claims and defend them.He then explains Aristotle's belief that the soul is essentially the capability of human functioning. It is very interesting that the author addresses the soul as "not a thing of any kind," rather as a "complex property of living bodies." What he means by this is that the soul exists as a compilation of several different things such as reasoning, thought, and intellect. Therefore, the soul is composed simply of the way that a person acts or lives. According to this theory, it would be inaccurate to claim that a soul could ever exist outside of a living body, because the soul is what is required for that being to function. It is also extremely intriguing to learn that Aristotle believes that things like meditation, aesthetic contemplation, or prayer can serve as different parts of the soul and can exist outside of the body. He states that it may be possible for there to be the capacity for intellect to operate outside of the confines of the human body through the power of the gods. However, the author accuses Aristotle of going back on his original argument because how can there be "mathematical thought" without the presence of a living body? Then, the author wraps up by saying that this concept of the soul existing separately from the body is deeply troubling because it goes against everything we know to be logical or mathematically true.Questions about the topic:1. What does Aristotle mean by stating that a soul can exist outside of the body?2. Why does Aristotle claim that thought and intellect are what separate humans from the rest of