Active intellect

In medieval philosophy, the active intellect (Latin: intellectus agens; also translated as agent intellect, active intelligence, active reason, or productive intellect) is the formal (morphe) aspect of the intellect (nous), according to the Aristotelian theory of hylomorphism. The nature of the active intellect was a major theme of late classical and medieval philosophy. Various thinkers sought to reconcile their commitment to Aristotle's account of the body and soul to their own theological commitments. At stake in particular was in what way Aristotle's account of an incorporeal soul might contribute to understanding of deity and creation. The idea is first encountered in two of Aristotle's works. A passage in De Anima, Book III explains "how the human intellect passes from its original state, in which it does not think, to a subsequent state, in which it does." He inferred that the energeia/dynamis distinction must also exist in the soul itself. Aristotle distinguished two separable types of intellect or nous which he believed were both necessary in order to explain human thinking. What modern scholars call the "passive intellect" is material and destructible and it receives the intelligible forms of things. It is acted upon. In contrast, the active intellect is what acts upon the passive intellect. It is required to make potential knowledge into actual knowledge, in the same way that light makes potential colors into actual colors. Aristotle describes this active intellect as something separate, everlasting, unchanging, and immaterial. It is the passive or material intellect where human thinking and remembering happens, because these involving change. Another passage which is traditionally read together with the De Anima passage is in Metaphysics, Book XII, ch.7-10. Aristotle again distinguishes between the active and passive intellects, but this time he equates the active intellect with the "unmoved mover" and God. He explains that when people have real knowledge, their thinking is, for a time receiving, or partaking of, this energeia of the nous (active intellect).