we are now going into lecture 14 on Aristotle's Nick M ethics and here we are going to discuss two aspects of the human soul the irrational and rational and we are going to further discuss three parts of the soul and The Virtue that is found in each part of the soul the first of the part of the soul that we will discuss in this session is the vegetative part oddly enough there is no virtue to be found there although there will be virtue to be found with regard to the other two parts of the soul the first and simplest division in the soul is to recognize that it has two parts the rational and the irrational some of what we do is through and informed by rational thinking while other things that we do happen independently of rational thinking and may even oppose it the explanation for that is that the soul which is the source of all that we do of all of our animation is in part rational and in part not rational in other words the not rational part can resist what the rational part commands it to do but we are going to refine our analysis of the Soul further and recognize three parts in it some of which are rational some not rational and some oddly enough both rational and not rational and again the goal of our investigation in which we divide the soul into Parts is so that we can refine our thinking about human virtue and Happiness by asking about the role of virtue in each part of the soul in other words we're not just dividing the soul out of idal curiosity or even out of concern for serious knowledge as such but we are dividing the soul in this way in order to discuss the pursuit of The Good Life by means of virtue and so we're going to discuss how virtue belongs to each of the parts of the Soul if it does to any specific part of the soul the vegetative part of the soul the first part is responsible for and is the source of motion of all that in us that happens involuntarily and without any influence of thinking at all it explains processes it brings those processes into being such as digestion blood circulation Etc we do not influence the course of these processes by rational or any other choice they just go on without in us without us knowing about them frequently for that reason there's no virtue with regard to this part of the soul and our being at work since virtue is with regard to those parts of us that takes place through choice and with rational thinking