The Active Intellect

The light of the mind

In a famously brief passage of the De Anima, Aristotle distinguishes a passive intellect, which becomes all things, from an active or productive intellect, which makes all things — as light makes potential colors actually seen. This active intellect alone, he says, is separable, deathless, and eternal. Later Platonists and their heirs argued endlessly whether it is a part of the soul or a higher, divine Mind shining into it.