Hylomorphism: Relation Between The Soul And Body

Hylomorphism is the relation between the soul and body as they act together as one in a human. Hylomorphism can be seen in that the body depends on the soul. Hylomorphism can be best proven when others try to deny the relation between the two but end up meeting to the conclusion that both are inevitable to divide. Kas shows the importance of each individual structure of the human body as it relates to the rational soul that drives it.

In St.Thomas Aquinas on the Body the soul and body are joined together in unity but they are not equal in importance. This is shown in the quote “For man's being consists in soul and body; and though the being of the body depends on the soul, yet the being for the human depends not on the body (I,75,2)”
The bodily structures of the human proves hylomorphism through our human design to be rational beings. Our body and soul work together to make humans useful through our hands, upright posture, and face. This is shown in the quote “Mind and hand gait and gaze, breath and tongue, food and mouth - all are isomorphically part of a single package, suffused with the presence of intelligence. We are rational animals, down to and up from the very tip of our toes”(The Human Form, pg 75). The human arms allows for a greater grasp of life through flexibility and touch. Our upright posture allows for the body to move with ease and establish distance between us and the world. The face along with the other valuable features allow the human to receive a multiple of senses through the mouth and nose. These feature allow for us to be the rational being of exploring and expressing ourselves. Our bodies were built to be rational humans who need a soul to control the body features. If the rational soul did not correlate with the body then it could be shut off and a human would be able to function as a rational soul. That is not the case for we need both a body built to experience the world through their senses and a soul. The soul is very important as we can take away an organ and yet still function but take away the soul and a human is no longer rational. Hylomorphism can be proven by trying to take away the soul from human bodily actions but the rational soul drives human action through free