Final answer:
The statement that Diotima tells Socrates some people are pregnant in the body, while others in the soul is true, reflecting Socratic and Platonic emphasis on intellectual and moral excellence over physical procreation. Socrates' theory emphasizes the soul's engagement with eternal truths as central to philosophy, contrasting with Aristotle's functional view of the soul's capabilities.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that Diotima tells Socrates some people are pregnant in terms of the body while others in terms of the soul is true. This concept is elucidated in Plato's dialogue 'The Symposium', where Diotima, a priestess and philosopher, converses with Socrates about the nature of love, suggesting that intellectual or spiritual procreation is a higher form of pregnancy than physical procreation. Essentially, she implies that some people create physical offspring, while others, like philosophers, create intellectual or spiritual works that can achieve immortality.
According to Socratic thinking, as discussed in 'The Symposium', the soul engages with the forms of truth and virtue, leading to intellectual enlightenment, while those focused on physical procreation are concerned with the transient. The significance of intellectual or spiritual creation was essential to Socrates, and this concept carries through in Plato's work. It reflects the metaphysical perspectives and the debate on the moral dimensions of the soul and personhood.
Socrates' theory of the soul implies that nurturing the soul and engaging in intellectual exploration is of the utmost priority. His dialectic method aimed to bring forth wisdom and virtue within individuals. This also explains why Socrates believed that harm to one's character is more detrimental than physical harm or even death. The core of Socratic and Platonic philosophy is the value placed on the soul's purity and the pursuit of intellectual and moral excellence.
Plato's Theory of the Ideal Forms underpins the importance of the soul's engagement with eternal, unchanging truths, leading to genuine knowledge and understanding. In this sense, physical life, with its sensory distractions and temptations, can be a hindrance to achieving philosophical insight and purity of soul.
In contrast, Aristotle presents a more functional view of the soul, wherein he defines the soul by its capabilities, which are necessary for carrying out life functions and rational thought, as stated in 'On the Soul'. The vegetative soul allows for growth and nutrient exchange in plants, the animal soul enables perception and action, and the human soul incorporates the ability to reason, demonstrating that there's a gradation of soul functions corresponding to the complexity of life forms.