This innovative new reading of Aristotle's De Anima sheds new light on a most important and difficult ancient philosophical text.

A fresh interpretation of this important and widely misunderstood concept as an acquired ability to make principles and essences intelligible.

Aristotle's De Anima was the first systematic philosophical account of the soul, which serves to explain the functioning of all mortal living things. In his com

'. . . the more honourable animals have been allotted a more honourable soul. . . ' What is the nature of the soul? It is this question that Aristotle sought to

Aristotle initiated the systematic investigation of perception, the emotions, memory, desire and action, developing his own account of these phenomena and their