is a Greek word that corresponds to the English words Intelligence , Intellect , or Mind . It signifies a search for Order by the part of the Soul or mind that knows and thinks. In some forms of Greek Mythology , order was imposed by an Anthropomorphic father of all things, the Demiurge . In Philosophy , there were three ordering principles:
# Arche - the source of all things,
# Logos - the underlying order that is hidden beneath appearances,
# Harmonia - numerical Ratios in Mathematics .
The word ''Nous'' signifies more than one concept. It is therefore ambiguous. This is a result of the word being appropriated by successive philosophers to designate very different attributes.
- Homer used ''Nous'' to signify mental activities in general.
- Anaxagoras 's ''Nous'' was a mechanical ordering force that formed the world out of an original chaos. It began the development of the Cosmos .
- Plato described it as the immortal, rational part of the Soul . This section of the soul of the world is the component that brings reasoned order to the universe. It is a godlike kind of thinking in which the truths of conclusions are immediately known without having to understand the preliminary premises.
- Aristotle asserted that ''Nous'' was the Intellect , as distinguished from Sense Perception . He divided it into an active and passive ''Nous''. The passive is affected by Knowledge . The active is an immortal first cause of all subsequent causes in the world.
- To the Stoics , it was the same as Logos . This is the whole Cosmic Reason . It contains human reason as a part.
- Plotinus described ''Nous'' as one of the emanations from divine being.
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