15. Anaxagoras on Mind: Unlimited, Self-Ruling, and Unmixed

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Anaxagoras’s Theory of the Greater Mind (Nous) #

Anaxagoras makes an exception to his principle that “everything has a part of everything”—he excludes mind from universal mixture. The greater mind is responsible for the order and distinction observed in the natural world, particularly in the arrangement of parts in animals and plants.

The Three Essential Characteristics of Mind #

1. Mind is Unlimited (Apeiron)

• Not unlimited in spatial extension or temporal duration, but unlimited in its ability to know
• The mind is open to an infinity of things through knowledge of the universal
• Example: The mathematician who knows “odd number” and “even number” makes statements about an infinity of particular numbers
• Evidence from our own mind: we are always able to learn more; we continually make and invent new things; language allows us to signify perpetually new and different things
• This is a different sense of “unlimited” than when air is said to be unlimited (going on forever); closer to how God is said to be unlimited

2. Mind is Self-Ruling (Autokrates)

• Logic is the art that directs reason itself—the existence of logic is a sign that mind is self-ruling
• Mind distinguishes and orders things; reason is “the ability for a large discourse, looking before and after”
• To rule is to order; mind can order itself because it is self-knowing
• Connection to three parts of philosophy:
  • Logic: directly demonstrates mind is self-ruling
  • Philosophy of the Soul (Dianima): demonstrates mind is self-knowing
  • Ethics: demonstrates that reason must rule will and emotion; one must be able to rule oneself before ruling others
• Examples of self-rule’s necessity in practice: commanding officer must master fear; parent must control anger to lead effectively; judge must be impartial

3. Mind is Unmixed (Amiktos)

• Mind cannot be mixed with anything else, or it would share in all things like matter does and lose its power to rule
• The fundamental principle: The ruler must be separated from the ruled in order to rule well
• If mind were mixed with matter, the components of matter mixed into mind would hinder it, preventing it from ruling “nothing like it does being alone by itself”
• Examples demonstrating the necessity of separation for authority:
  • Military: officers maintain separation from enlisted men through insignia, separate clubs, saluting protocol
  • Judiciary: a judge must be impartial—literally “not a part of” the case; if they have friendship or financial interest, they cannot judge fairly; trials may be transferred if the judge is too close to the community
  • Industry: promotion involves increasing separation; degree of separation in workspace (desk, partition, office, inner office with secretary) indicates rank
  • Church: a bishop must distance himself from former priest-friends to rule objectively
  • Family: parents cannot be “just one of the kids” and maintain parental authority

Key Arguments #

The Argument from the Similarity of Effects #

1. The order in artificial things (chairs, tools) is caused by the human mind
2. The order in animals and plants is similar to the order in artificial things
3. Like effects have like causes (principle: similis causa similem effectum)
4. Therefore, the cause of order in animals and plants must be something like the human mind—but greater in power
5. This greater mind must be separated from matter to rule it as effectively as it does

The Principle of Universal Mixture and the Exception #

• Everything in nature eventually comes to be from everything else (grass → cow → man)
• Therefore, everything must already be present in everything in infinitesimal form
• Exception: Mind cannot follow this rule; mind must be pure and unmixed
• If mind were mixed, its ruling power would be compromised

The Connection Between Self-Rule and Separation #

• Mind is self-ruling, yet the ruler must be separated from the ruled
• Resolution: Mind rules itself by separating what it knows from what it doesn’t know; the known rules the unknown
• The part (reason) rules another part (emotions); this is possible because reason is separate from what it rules

Important Definitions #

Mind (Nous) #

• Greek term: νοῦς (nous)
• The immaterial, ordering principle in the universe
• In Anaxagoras: responsible for the cosmic ordering through circular motion that separates thick from thin, warm from cold, etc.
• Characterized by: unlimited ability, self-rule, and unmixedness

Relation (Pros te / Ad aliquid) #

• Greek: πρός τι (pros ti) / Latin: ad aliquid (towards another)
• To be double is something “towards another”—nothing is double in itself
• Critical for understanding the Trinity: the distinction of divine persons is a relative distinction, not a substantial one
• Example from Gospel of John: “the Word was with God” (Latin translation) vs. Greek original “the Word was pros [towards] God”

The Thinnest of All Things #

• Mind is called “the thinnest of all things” because it penetrates and divides all things
• Has no parts (otherwise something would be thinner)
• Contrasts with first matter, which is thin in a different sense
• Indicates the immaterial, penetrating nature of mind

Examples & Illustrations #

Circular Motion and Separation #

• Ancient: Anaxagoras uses circular motion to explain how thick, moist, cold, dark things separated downward (forming earth) while thin, warm, dry things flew outward (forming ether and air)
• Modern parallels:
  • Centrifuge/cyclotron: particles accelerated in circles until expelled at high speed
  • Boxing: power comes from rotating the body in circular motion before striking
  • Martial arts: circular kicks generate force
  • Childhood experience: at amusement park ride, light baseball hat flew off while heavier person remained centered
  • Industrial drills and machines: many work in circular fashion

The Ruler Must Be Separated from the Ruled #

• Military hierarchy: Officers maintain separation through insignia, exclusive clubs, formal saluting protocol; discipline breaks down when separation erodes (Russian Army after Bolshevik Revolution calling everyone “comrade”)
• Jurisprudence: Judge must be impartial (literally “not a part of”); if judge has friendship or financial interest, they’re disqualified; trials transferred if judge too close to community
• Industry: Minnesota Mining example—promotion requires distancing from former peers; degree of separation indicates rank (desk in open room → partitioned desk → office → office with outer office and secretary)
• Church hierarchy: Bishop must separate from former priest-friends to rule objectively
• Parental authority: Parents cannot be “just one of the kids” and maintain authority; sometimes a stranger’s command is more effective than a parent’s due to the distance

Knowledge and Learning #

• The problem of generation: When a student learns something the professor knows, where does the knowledge come from? Not from a molecular rearrangement in the brain, but from actual knowledge coming to exist in the student’s mind that wasn’t there before—contradicting Anaxagoras’s principle that “nothing comes to be or perishes”
• Mathematical knowledge: The mathematician knowing odd and even numbers makes universal statements about an infinity of particular numbers
• Linguistic creativity: Language allows humans to continually signify something “new and different”

Notable Quotes #

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God” (Gospel of John, Latin translation)

“The Word was pros [towards] God” (Gospel of John, Greek original: pros te)

“Everything is mixed and separated from existing things”

“Mind is unlimited” (Anaxagoras)

“Mind is self-ruling” (Anaxagoras)

“Mind is mixed with nothing else” (Anaxagoras)

“Every mind is similar both the greater and the lesser” (Anaxagoras DK12)

“The things in the one world are not separated from each other…Neither the warm from the cold, nor the cold from the warm” (Anaxagoras, illustrating universal mixture)

“The Greeks do not rightly take coming into being and perishing. Nothing comes to be or perishes. But it’s mixed and separated from existing things” (Anaxagoras DK17)

“All things are never more nor less” (Anaxagoras DK5, foundational to modern physics equations)

“Dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return” (biblical reference to the ability of matter)

“The whole modern physical science is based upon this statement…the customary way of expressing what we know about the world in the physical sciences is by what is called an equation right and as the word itself indicates it’s about equality right”

Questions Addressed #

How can the mind rule if the ruler must be separated from the ruled? #

• The mind rules itself not by being divided into two competing parts, but by the known ruling the unknown, by separating what it knows from what it doesn’t know
• Mind’s self-knowledge is what makes self-rule possible
• This applies to larger governance: one must master oneself (through reason controlling emotion and will) before one can effectively rule others

Why must the greater mind be unmixed with matter? #

• If mind were mixed with matter, it would share in all the properties of matter—thick, thin, warm, cold, etc.
• This would hinder its ability to rule over the world as it does
• The principle: the ruler must maintain separation from what it rules to rule effectively
• Analogy to judge: judge cannot rule fairly if mixed up (involved) in the case

How do we know there is a greater mind? #

• Argument from analogy: artificial things show order caused by human mind; natural things (animals, plants) show similar order
• Like effects have like causes; therefore natural order must be caused by something like human mind but greater
• The similarity between the greater mind and our own mind allows us to understand something about the greater mind through introspection

What does it mean that mind is unlimited? #

• Not unlimited in size or duration, but unlimited in its ability to know
• The mind can know the universal, which contains an infinity of things
• Evidence: we are always able to learn more; we continually invent new things; language allows perpetual new signification

How does understanding Anaxagoras help us understand the Trinity? #

• Through understanding relation (pros te): to be double is “towards another,” not something in itself
• In the Trinity, the distinction of persons is a relative distinction
• The Son is “towards” the Father; the persons are distinguished relatively, not substantially, similar to how “double” exists only in relation to another

Connections to Other Topics #

Philosophy of Nature and the Soul #

• The mind’s self-knowing connects to the third book of Aristotle’s De Anima
• Ethics relates to mind’s self-ruling: one must rule oneself through reason before ruling others
• Logic as the art directing reason itself demonstrates mind’s capacity for self-governance

Theology #

• The principle of unmixedness applies to God’s relation to creation
• The concept of relation (pros te) is essential to understanding the Trinity
• Augustine, Boethius, and Thomas Aquinas all build on Anaxagoras’s insights about mind and distinction