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''Nous'' (British: ; US: ), sometimes equated to intellect or intelligence, is a philosophical term for the faculty of the human mind which is described in classical philosophy as necessary for understanding what is true or real. The three commonly used philosophical terms are from Greek, νοῦς or , and Latin ''intellectus'' and ''intelligentia'' respectively. To describe the activity of this faculty, apart from verbs based on "understanding", the word "intellection" is sometimes used in philosophical contexts, and the Greek words ''noēsis'' and ''noein'' are sometimes also used. This activity is understood in a similar way, at least in some contexts, to the modern concept intuition. In philosophy, common English translations include "understanding" and "mind"; or sometimes "thought" or "reason" (in the sense of that which reasons, not the activity of reasoning).〔See entry for ''(νόος )'' in Liddell & Scott, on the Perseus Project.〕〔See entry for ''(intellectus )'' in Lewis & Short, on the Perseus Project.〕 It is also often described as something equivalent to perception except that it works within the mind ("the mind's eye").〔 page 38.〕 It has been suggested that the basic meaning is something like "awareness".〔"This quest for the beginnings proceeds through sense perception, reasoning, and what they call noesis, which is literally translated by "understanding" or intellect," and which we can perhaps translate a little bit more cautiously by "awareness," an awareness of the mind's eye as distinguished from sensible awareness." .〕 In colloquial British English, ''nous'' also denotes "good sense", which is close to one everyday meaning it had in Ancient Greece. In Aristotle's influential works, the term was carefully distinguished from sense perception, imagination and reason, although these terms are closely inter-related. The term was apparently already singled out by earlier philosophers such as Parmenides, whose works are largely lost. In post-Aristotelian discussions, the exact boundaries between perception, understanding of perception, and reasoning have not always agreed with the definitions of Aristotle, even though his terminology remains influential. In the Aristotelian scheme, ''nous'' is the basic understanding or awareness which allows human beings to think rationally. For Aristotle, this was distinct from the processing of sensory perception, including the use of imagination and memory, which other animals can do. This therefore connects discussion of ''nous'', to discussion of how the human mind sets definitions in a consistent and communicable way, and whether people must be born with some innate potential to understand the same universal categories the same logical ways. Deriving from this it was also sometimes argued, especially in classical and medieval philosophy, that the individual ''nous'' must require help of a spiritual and divine type. By this type of account, it came to be argued that the human understanding (''nous'') somehow stems from this cosmic ''nous'', which is however not just a recipient of order, but a creator of it. Such explanations were influential in the development of medieval accounts of God, the immortality of the soul, and even the motions of the stars, in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, amongst both eclectic philosophers and authors representing all the major faiths of their times. ==Pre-Socratic usage== In early Greek uses, Homer used ''nous'' to signify mental activities of both mortals and immortals, for example what they really have on their mind as opposed to what they say aloud. It was one of several words related to thought, thinking, and perceiving with the mind. Amongst pre-Socratic philosophers it became increasingly distinguished as a source of knowledge and reasoning and opposed to mere sense perception, or thinking influenced by the body such as emotion. For example Heraclitus complained that "much learning does not teach ''nous''". Among some Greek authors a faculty of intelligence, a "higher mind", came to be considered to be a property of the cosmos as a whole. The work of Parmenides of Elea set the scene for Greek philosophy to come and the concept of ''nous'' was central to his radical proposals. He claimed that reality as the senses perceive it is not a world of truth at all, because sense perception is so unreliable, and what is perceived is so uncertain and changeable. Instead he argued for a dualism wherein ''nous'' and related words (the verb for thinking which describes its mental perceiving activity, ''noein'', and the unchanging and eternal objects of this perception ''noēta'') describe a form of perception which is not physical, but intellectual only, distinct from sense perception and the objects of sense perception. Anaxagoras of Clazomenae, born about 500 BC, is the first person who is definitely known to have explained the concept of a ''nous'' (mind), which arranged all other things in the cosmos in their proper order, started them in a rotating motion, and continuing to control them to some extent, having an especially strong connection with living things. (However Aristotle reports an earlier philosopher from Clezomenae named Hermotimus who had taken a similar position.〔''Metaphysics'' I.4.(984b ).〕) Amongst Pre-Socratic philosophers before Anaxagoras, other philosophers had proposed a similar ordering human-like principle causing life and the rotation of the heavens. For example Empedocles, like Hesiod much earlier, described cosmic order and living things as caused by a cosmic version of love,〔 Chapter X.〕 and Pythagoras and Heraclitus, attributed the cosmos with "reason" (''logos'').〔. See pages 204 and 235.〕 According to Anaxagoras the cosmos is made of infinitely divisible matter, every bit of which can inherently become anything, except Mind (''nous''), which is also matter, but which can only be found separated from this general mixture, or else mixed into living things, or in other words in the Greek terminology of the time, things with a soul (''psuchē'').〔 Chapter XII.〕 Anaxagoras wrote: Concerning cosmology, Anaxagoras, like some Greek philosophers already before him, believed the cosmos was revolving, and had formed into its visible order as a result of such revolving causing a separating and mixing of different types of elements. ''Nous'', in his system, originally caused this revolving motion to start, but it does not necessarily continue to play a role once the mechanical motion has started. His description was in other words (shockingly for the time) corporeal or mechanical, with the moon made of earth, the sun and stars made of red hot metal (beliefs Socrates was later accused of holding during his trial) and ''nous'' itself being a physical fine type of matter which also gathered and concentrated with the development of the cosmos. This ''nous'' (mind) is not incorporeal; it is the thinnest of all things. The distinction between ''nous'' and other things nevertheless causes his scheme to sometimes be described as a peculiar kind of dualism.〔 Anaxagoras' concept of ''nous'' was distinct from later platonic and neoplatonic cosmologies in many ways, which were also influenced by Eleatic, Pythagorean and other pre Socratic ideas, as well as the Socratics themselves. In ancient Indian Philosophy also, a "higher mind", came to be considered to be a property of the cosmos as a whole.〔So, for example, in the Sankhya philosophy, the faculty of higher intellect (buddhi) is equated with the cosmic principle of differentiation of the world-soul (hiranyagarbha) from the formless and unmanifest Brahman. This outer principle that is equated with ''buddhi'' is called ''mahat'' (see Wikipedia entry on Sankhya)〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nous」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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