That is the goal towards which
all things strive, that for the sake of which they do whatsoever their
nature renders possible. The phrase 'for the sake of which' is
ambiguous; it may mean either (a) the end to achieve which, or (b) the
being in whose interest, the act is done. Since then no living thing
is able to partake in what is eternal and divine by uninterrupted
continuance (for nothing perishable can for ever remain one and the
same), it tries to achieve that end in the only way possible to it,
and success is possible in varying degrees; so it remains not indeed
as the self-same individual but continues its existence in something
like itself-not numerically but specifically one.
The soul is the cause or source of the living body. The terms
cause and source have many senses. But the soul is the cause of its
body alike in all three senses which we explicitly recognize. It is
(a) the source or origin of movement, it is (b) the end, it is (c) the
essence of the whole living body.
That it is the last, is clear; for in everything the essence is
identical with the ground of its being, and here, in the case of
living things, their being is to live, and of their being and their
living the soul in them is the cause or source. Further, the actuality
of whatever is potential is identical with its formulable essence.
It is manifest that the soul is also the final cause of its body.
For Nature, like mind, always does whatever it does for the sake of
something, which something is its end.
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