Plato believed in the existence of inner man. His perception of man has a body and soul with the spirit outside – external to man. In Plato’s view the soul existed before the body and was independent of it.
Aristotle’s philosophy moves away from the emphasis on the spirit as being external to man. Aristotle saw the spirit as the immortal soul of man. In fact, Aristotle considered there were two aspects to the soul:
– the mortal aspect which belonged to the physical body and
– the immortal aspect which belonged to the spirit.
If you are interested in digging further into Greek philosophy, both Plato and Aristotle held what are now totally unacceptable views on the status of women. In Greek society a woman’s main function was considered to be the reproduction of children