Nous: Indemonstrable Knowledge And Aristotle's Epistemic Hexis (II)

Corresponding to the division of the scientific knowledge to demonstrable and indemonstrable knowledge in Aristotle’s philosophy، the concept of nous has two interwoven senses. Besides nous as the demonstrable scientific knowledge، it is also regarded as the hexis of the soul. There are three specific functions of this latter sense: i) acquiring principles on which the scientific knowledge is based; ii) understanding universals in actual sense perception and iii) conceiving universal propositions during induction (epagoge). Nous as the origin of acquiring demonstrative knowledgeis، thus، both the process of acquiring demonstrable knowledge and its final result. The illumination of this point، it seems، can throw light on some of the common ambiguities about nous.