Anaxagoras · Philosophy

Mind Apart From Matter

In making Nous ‘mixed with nothing,’ pure and separate from all matter, Anaxagoras drew the first sharp line between mind and the material world - opening the deepest problem in philosophy: how mind relates to matter, and whether intelligence can be wholly natural.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that Anaxagoras set Mind sharply apart from matter - Nous alone is ‘mixed with nothing,’ pure and separate - making the first clear distinction between mind and the material world. Explain why this opens the mind-body problem and why mind seemed to require a special, separate status.

Leads to Aristotle.

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