Intellect in Alexander of Aphrodisias and Its Impact upon Muslim Philosophers

Abstract

In his treatise "On the Intellect," Alexander of Aphrodisias paraphrases Aristotleʼs views on the intellect. He refers to four kinds of intellect. The first three include: the potential intellect which resides potentially in manʼs soul and will be actualized through perceiving the intelligible; the habitual intellect which has perceived certain intelligibles and can perceive some others as well; the Active Intellect which can change the first kind of intellect into the second one. This intellect can perceive its essence. And since its essence is intelligible so it can perceive it through perceiving the intelligibles. The fourth is the acquired intellect and it is a part of the Active Intellect and comes to soul from outside and enables it to perceive the intelligibles. The main objective of this article is to treat Alexanderʼs idea of the intellect and to explore its impact upon Islamic philosophy which can be traced in the similarities between their debates on the issue and the allusions to Alexanderʼs view in the works about intellect written by Muslim philosophers.