 Readers, often carried away by the rhetoric of this passage, might fail to notice that there is a compelling argument here, with two key conclusions. The first is that, while studying the Sun, Moon, starts and planets may be a noble pursuit, if scientific understanding is your goal, you are much more likely to achieve it in the study of animals and plants: “…anyone wishing to labor sufficiently can grasp many things about each kind…we know more of them and we know them more fully…they are nearer to us and more of our own nature…” (excerpted from 644b29–645a3). The second is that if one has the proper philosophical focus, then one realizes that the somewhat unpleasant task of dissecting blood vessels and the like, is a means to understanding that for the sake of which and soul, those objects of inquiry argued to be primary in chapter 1. For the lesson of chapter 1 is that understanding living matter is achieved primarily by means of an understanding of the functional goals served by an animal’s parts, discovering what each of its parts is for, what it contributes to the life of the animal. This is the philosophical way to investigate animals, and by doing so you learn the value of an animal’s parts and activities to its life.