The active intellect from Ancient Greek to al-Fārābī

The concept of the active intellect, which emerged in reference to Aristotle's very brief, vague and ambiguous statements in De Anima III.5 and became a fundamental philosophical problem in Peripatetic philosophy, has been one of the most debated concepts in the history of philosophy from the post-Aristotelian period to the present day. In this study, firstly, the Presocratics' views on the first cause of existence, which constitute the historical and philosophical background of the concept of the active intellect, and Plato's Demiurgos, which he sees as a divine intellect, are discussed, and the nature, functions, and relationship with the human intellect in Aristotle's philosophy are tried to be clarified. Then, the irreconcilable views of the Aristotelian commentators Alexander of Aphrodisias and Themistius, who had a significant impact on the Islamic philosophers' theories of reason and their understanding of the active intellect, are given. In addition, the concept of the hypostasis Soul of Plotinus, the founder of Neo-Platonism, which has great similarities with the Islamic philosophers' concept of the active intellect in terms of both its position in the universe and its functions, has been put forward by drawing attention to its similarity with Plato's Demiurge. In the rest of the study, the changes and transformations that the concept of the active intellect underwent in the philosophical system of the Islamic philosophers al-Kindī and al-Fārābī, as well as the meanings and functions it assumed, are examined in detail, and the original views and interpretations that al-Kindī and al-Fārābī developed in this context are analyzed in comparison with the philosophical heritage they inherited from Ancient Greek philosophy. In this way, the original contributions of al-Kindī and al-Fārābī both to the philosophical heritage they inherited and to the issue of the originality of Islamic philosophy are clarified in terms of the concept of the active intellect.