Aristotle's Two Intellects: A Modest Proposal

@article{citeulike:1892910, abstract = {In De anima 3.5, Aristotle argues for the existence of a second intellect, the so-called "Agent Intellect." The logical structure of his argument turns on a distinction between different types of soul, rather than different faculties within a given soul; and the attributes he assigns to the second species make it clear that his concern here - as at the climax of his other great works, such as the Metaphysics, the Nicomachean and the Eudemian Ethics - is the difference between the human and the divine. If this is right, we needn't go on a wild goose chase trying to invent a role for the so-called Agent Intellect to play. God moves our intellects as he moves the heavenly spheres, "as a beloved": he constitutes the complete actualization towards which all of our intellectual striving is directed. Aristotle regards such final causation as an efficient cause, but not in a way that would make it part of what we would call the causal processes or mechanisms of human psychology. But, he would insist, it is essential for appreciating who we are and what our place is in the world.}, author = {Caston, Victor }, citeulike-article-id = {1892910}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15685289960500033}, journal = {Phronesis}, keywords = {aristoteles, cap2, deliberacion, virtud}, month = {June}, number = {3}, pages = {199--227}, posted-at = {2007-11-10 03:07:25}, priority = {2}, title = {Aristotle's Two Intellects: A Modest Proposal}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15685289960500033}, volume = {44}, year = {1999} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:1892910 L3 - citeulike-article-id:1892910 TI - Aristotle's Two Intellects: A Modest Proposal JF - Phronesis VL - 44 IS - 3 SP - 199 EP - 227 N2 - In De anima 3.5, Aristotle argues for the existence of a second intellect, the so-called "Agent Intellect." The logical structure of his argument turns on a distinction between different types of soul, rather than different faculties within a given soul; and the attributes he assigns to the second species make it clear that his concern here - as at the climax of his other great works, such as the Metaphysics, the Nicomachean and the Eudemian Ethics - is the difference between the human and the divine. If this is right, we needn't go on a wild goose chase trying to invent a role for the so-called Agent Intellect to play. God moves our intellects as he moves the heavenly spheres, "as a beloved": he constitutes the complete actualization towards which all of our intellectual striving is directed. Aristotle regards such final causation as an efficient cause, but not in a way that would make it part of what we would call the causal processes or mechanisms of human psychology. But, he would insist, it is essential for appreciating who we are and what our place is in the world. KW - aristoteles KW - cap2 KW - deliberacion KW - virtud AU - Caston, Victor PY - 1999/06/01/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/15685289960500033 ER -