Phantasia et nous pathêtikos

Abstract

Proclus, in his theory of projection of the geometrical figures, is the first one to assimilate the phantasia (imagination) with the nous pathêtikos (passive intellect) evoked furtively by Aristote in De anima III, 5. While maintaining this assimilation, Ammonius will integrate the notion of epinoia into the process of abstraction, status of the thing abstracted from the sensitive world. The introduction of this notion will cause a certain confusion at the later commentators who, while keeping the assimilation of Proclus, will not hesitate to make of the phantasia the intellective faculty allowing to abstract the forms of the material in collaboration with the active intellect, to separate the accidents of a substratum and to make up beings and forms without substratum.

Keywords

• noetic
• mathematics
• intellect
• phantasia
• epinoia
• neoplatonism