Sun and Light, or On the Agent Intellect

Abstract

This paper examines some passages in the Treatise on Human Nature in which Thomas Aquinas, following Themistius, refers to Plato’s analogies between the sun and the soul in order to prove that the agent intellect is something that belongs to the soul. It also analyzes the analogy between the light and the soul that Aquinas mentions, which is taken from Aristotle. The main task at hand will be to revisit the question of how Aquinas interprets Plato and Aristotle in this particular section of the Treatise on Human Nature.