 The primary object of intellection is a quiddity presented to the intellect in the form of an intelligible species (In De an.: q.10). Since forms are material and particular in both external things and sensory representations (phantasmata), and since the intelligible object must be immaterial and universal, the intellect must produce an immaterial object to represent those forms under the aspect of universality—the intelligible species. The intellect does this through the act of abstraction performed by its active capacity, the agent intellect (In De an.: q.12).