Analysis of the relationship between soul and body in viewpoint of Aristotle and Avicenna with emphasis on the vegetative and animal soul

According to general consensus among scholars, the main distinction between Aristotle and Avicenna in their philosophical analysis of the reality of soul and its relation to body finds its expression in the way in which each of them treats human rational soul and its relation to body. Upon this view, there is no considerable difference between their standpoint about vegetative and animal soul because both ofthem construe these two kinds of soul as the imprinted form in body. But, considering their metaphysical bases and different interpretation of the relationship between form and matter in the viewpoint of these two philosophers, one can infer an apparent distinction between their interpretation concerning the relation of the animal and vegetative soul to body. Aristotle, does not believe in the substantial separation of the soul from the body. As the result in his viewpoint soul and body are two different aspects of one substance which is called living being. Contrary to Aristotle, Avicenna, in the light of his theory about form and matter, considers the soul and body as two different substances united together. Consequently, in his viewpoint living being is a composition of two different substances.