Study on Intellect and the Categories of Being in Late Antiquity

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K12833
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 01040:History of thought-related
• Research Institution: University of Hyogo
• Principal Investigator: Nishimura Yohei 兵庫県立大学, 環境人間学部, 准教授 (90723916)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 新プラトン主義 / 知性論 / カテゴリー論 / 認識論

Outline of Final Research Achievements

According to the concepts of "potential intellect" and "active intellect," which are central to the theory of intellect in Late Antiquity, human beings have the potential for intellectual activities, and the world exists as a potential object of such intellectual activities. The active intellect serves as the principle that enables the actualization of these objects and the potential state of human intellection.
This project has revealed that Plotinus shares this teleological view of intellection and worldview with Aristotelianism. However, for Plotinus, the Aristotelian categories that could only explain the sensible world were insufficient. It was necessary to develop a theory of intellect using the Platonic categories of "being, motion, rest, sameness, and difference."

Free Research Field

西洋古代哲学史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

古代ギリシアから、中世・近世・現代に至るまでの哲学史をたどるときに欠かせないテーマの一つに「知性」（nous）がある。その知性論をめぐっては，アリストテレス由来とされる「能動知性」や「可能知性」を中心に研究がなされてきた。本研究の成果に基けば，プロティノス以降のプラトン主義は，アリストテレス主義の存在論の否定（あるいは批判的受容）のもとで，そうした知性論を受容している。アリストテレス知性論の受容史は，プラトン主義とアリストテレス主義の存在論的な対立のもとで理解されるべきだという，今後の哲学史研究に新たな視座を提示した点に，本研究の学術的意義がある。