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Warehouse 13 Artifact Database Wiki
Aristotle's Lyre
Lyre bull

Origin

Aristotle

Type

Lyre

Effects

Separates the functional ‘soul’ from subjects

Downsides

Out-of-Body Experiences

Activation

Playing a song about an article or person

Collected by

Warehouse 3

Section

Noosphere-28N

Aisle

Discidium-895E

Shelf

192284-4716-482

Date of Collection

209 AD

[Source]


Origin[]

One of the common requirements for being considered a great, classical philosopher is a personal stance on the soul’s nature. Aristotle’s viewpoint leaned more into a biological over a spiritual explanation.

All souls, then called the psyche, inhabited the bodies of all living organisms. He defined the soul as the properties which made an entity itself, such as the soul of an axe being the ability to cut wood. When removed of its soul, the axe would just be considered metal with a handle. Similarly, Aristotle thought the souls of people were their ability to interpret their surroundings. Plants had the lowest level of souls as they only reproduced, while animals possessed appetites and humans used intelligence.

As they were believed to be intrinsically linked, the soul and body could not exist separately. However, Aristotle’s writings on this point are contradictory. Multiple interpretations believed the mind itself, lacking a physical counterpart, could exist after the body’s demise, even though it should contradict the premise itself.

Effects[]

Allows the user to separate the soul or functional characteristics from anything. A lion’s roar, the surgeon’s muscle memory, the melting point of tungsten can all be extracted out. Experienced players can even pluck out a specific property and insert it into another. Only one subject can be altered at a time, which must have its property quickly restored before it evaporates into oblivion.

The subject must be sung about in-depth while strumming the lyre, otherwise it will refract back upon the player. Normally, the user’s mental functions will uncouple from their physical body and float adrift. A dissociated mind, unable to sense anything until another player returns them to their body.

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