  There is of course unending controversy over the meaning of this text. One very common reading, in ancient times and our own, is that this active intellect is something divine, not a human faculty at all. If one then makes the further, natural assumption that the active intellect participates in ordinary human cognition, then Aristotle would clearly be committed to a version of divine illumination. (One should, however, be cautious in supposing that Aristotle’s nous poietikos plays anything like the role played by the scholastic intellectus agens. See Haldane 1992.) Not everyone has been persuaded that this active intellect is something literally separate and divine. But even if one supposes that the active intellect is a part of the human soul, it is nevertheless difficult to avoid the suspicion that some sort of special divine influence is at work. Everything in the passage cries out for some sort of supernatural element in human cognition. 