Nous

Nous is infinite and selfruled, and is mixed with nothing, but is alone, itself by itself... it is the thinnest of all things and the purest, and it has all knowledge about everything and the greatest strength; and Nous has power over all things

Edinger presents the Anaxagorean fragment defining Nous as the unmixed, infinite, all-knowing cosmic principle — and argues it should be translated as 'consciousness' rather than 'mind.'

Edinger, Edward F., The Psyche in Antiquity, Book One: Early Greek Philosophy From Thales to Plotinus, 1999thesis

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Nous set in order all things that were to be, and all things that were and are not now and that are, and this revolution in which now revolve the stars and the sun and the moon... no thing is altogether separated off nor distinguished from anything else except Nous.

This passage establishes Nous as the sole unmixed principle that orders the cosmos and maintains a unique separation from all other things.

Edinger, Edward F, The Psyche in Antiquity, Book One Early Greek Philosophy thesis

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Nous is without limit, self-ruled and mixed with no thing, but alone and by itself... it is the finest and purest of all things, and has all judgement (gnome) concerning everything and is most powerful.

Sullivan reconstructs Anaxagoras's doctrine to show that Nous is ontologically distinct from all cosmic mixture, exercising unlimited intellectual judgment and causal power.

Sullivan, Shirley Darcus, Psychological and Ethical Ideas What Early Greeks Say, 1995thesis

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Nous brings out the thought that something inside human beings is divine, not (like psuche) in the sense 'immo... Our nous depends on the fortune and 'day' that gods send, which change according to divine decision.

Padel demonstrates that in Greek poetic tradition nous is simultaneously the seat of something divine within the human being and a faculty vulnerable to divine alteration of fortune.

Padel, Ruth, In and Out of the Mind Greek Images of the Tragic Self, 1994thesis

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Nous, no-os, is most often simply translated 'mind.' It is an essentially perceiving force: 'intention,' 'sense.' Nous sees and hears... But it is also emotional. People enjoy with their nous. Nous stays 'unafraid in the breast.'

Padel analyses the semantic range of nous as both a cognitive-perceptive faculty and an emotional one, insisting it cannot be reduced to intellect alone.

Padel, Ruth, In and Out of the Mind Greek Images of the Tragic Self, 1994supporting

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There are other terms related to nous, such as noesis, which refers to the operation of nous... Noeton and noeta, its plural, refer to the objects of nous, hence to the intelligible objects.

Edinger maps the semantic family of nous — noesis, noeta, dianoia, pronoia, synnoia, paranoia — situating the term within its full philosophical and etymological network.

Edinger, Edward F., The Psyche in Antiquity, Book One: Early Greek Philosophy From Thales to Plotinus, 1999supporting

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Of all psychic entities noos perhaps is most important... these entities are not just parts of a self, itself not yet defined by a single word. Instead they are dominant, and perhaps even domineering, presences within, from which the person remains distinct.

Sullivan argues that noos, as the most important Homeric psychic entity, functions not as a component of a unified self but as a quasi-autonomous presence the person must observe and respond to.

Sullivan, Shirley Darcus, Psychological and Ethical Ideas What Early Greeks Say, 1995supporting

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voew 'to meditate, observe, think, devise, have in mind'... hence 1. vo'1lla [n.] 'thought, intelligence, decision'... 3. rrpo-vola [f.] 'provision', Ota-vola, -VOLa 'meditation, thought, aim'... No doubt an old inherited verbal noun, though there is no certain etymology.

Beekes provides the etymological and derivational field of nous — including noema, noesis, dianoia, and pronoia — confirming its deep Indo-European verbal roots in perceiving and devising.

Beekes, Robert, Etymological Dictionary of Greek, 2010supporting

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