Animagical Minds

[Grey Wolf]

No: HPFGUIDX 45885

Jacob Lewis wrote:
> Hey all,
> 
> There's been a lot of discussion over whether or not Animagi keep their
> mental abilities while in their 'Animal Form', and I thought I'd throw in my
> (or rather, CS Lewis') two knutes:
> 
> In his book _The_Discarded_Image_, CS Lewis discloses that, to the Medieval
> Mind, there were three, um, 'aspects' to a person's soul:  Vegetable,
> Sensitive, and Rational.  The first, which is responsible for all our basic
> growing, eating, &c. is simple enough, but here's the tough part: the
> Sensitive is what divides beasts from plants, and lets us, well, sense
> things (there are ten senses, BTW, five outside that we all know, and five
> 'inside', which are: memory, instinct, retention of perception (different
> from memory), thinking, and common sense).  The Rational aspect, in short,
> is the ability to understand complex truths.
> 
> Perhaps, and this is a big perhaps, what happens when a human becomes an
> animal is that he retains his sensitive soul (which, recall, has the virtues
> of memory, &c.) but, um... 'puts away' the rational soul (which animals do
> not have).  Thus, the Animagus can make decisions, put things together,
> figure out what they're doing, make plans, etc -- but would fall flat on
> their face if you tried to make them understand, say, Plato, or -- for a
> more recent Wiz -- Paracelsus.
> 
> Jacob, who doubts whether JKR consciously used this theory at all.

IIRC my philosophy classes (which I might not - I never did like them 
very much), that is not Lewis own theory, or even from the middle ages: 
it sounds like basic Plato theory to me (the two cuadrigas and the 
rider, I think was the example used). If not, it was Aristotle. Never 
mind, really.

I doubt that is the case, whoever said it in the first place. The fact 
is that Sirius mentions that it was his *feelings* that got animal-like 
(and it's the feelings that the dementors use as guide, not rational 
thought which, in itself, is neither happy nor sad). Most interesting, 
however, is Rita's own animagus form. In that form, she doesn't have 
feelings we could relate to, almost for sure, and if she had to act on  
instinct, she wouldn't hang around the Slytherins fishing for 
information.

Judging from the animagi we know best -Sirius and Rita- I have to say 
that I'm much more confortable with the idea that their mind remains 
the same, but their feelings resemble those of the animal. Which means 
that if you've got a strong enough mind to override your feelings (most 
of the time, everyone can, except when the feelings get *too* strong), 
you can control the instincts of whatever animal you turn into and you 
can still act rationaly.

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf