An example of an analogy to explain an historical scientific concept,
"…classicists have suggested that souls [as the term was used by Aristotle] are processes. In this model, the soul resembles the movement of a grandfather clock. It can only be said to run properly if it ticks away the seconds at a constant rate. It must be wound (i.e, energy must be added to make the pendulum swing) but the constant motion defines it, not the rare ringing of the bell."
Lucas John Mix (2018) Life Concepts from Aristotle to Darwin. On vegetable souls. Cham, Switzerland: plagrave macmillan.
The notion of 'soul' in the modern world has supernatural associations, but Aristotle's notion of the soul (which was not immortal, but was destroyed at the death of the individual organism) can be understood in terms of the complexity and organisation – a kind of organising principle – within organisms.
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