Keywords
Thomas Aquinas
Unity of the Intellect
Material Intellect
Agent Intellect
Intelligible in Act
Aristotelian Psychology
Medieval Epistemology
Metaphysics of Knowledge
Universality of Science
Cogitative Power
Hylomorphism
Intersubjectivity
Personal Agency
Transpersonal Cognition
How to Cite
Abstract
This article examines the epistemological and metaphysical disagreement between Averroes and Thomas Aquinas with particular attention to the ontological status of the intellect and the intelligible in act. Drawing mainly on Averroes' Long Commentary on the De Anima and Aquinas' De Unitate Intellectus, it contends that the decisive point of separation between the two thinkers is not a defect in reasoning, but the adoption of different metaphysical presuppositions. Whereas Averroes upholds the unity of the Material Intellect as a necessary condition for the universality of scientific knowledge, Aquinas argues for individualized intellects and maintains that intelligibles in act can exist in a plurality of human minds. By following the conceptual functions of the cogitative power, abstraction, and intellectual individuation, the article reassesses the force of Aquinas' critique and considers the coherence of Averroes' doctrine within the broader framework of Aristotelian psychology.
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