The Philosopher's Choice Between Aristotle and Themistheus

Thmistius wanted to sort out one of the most contentious and tantalising passages in aristotle's book on the soul. The passage has always fascinated and frustrated in equal measure, he writes. There is no real agreement about the identity of the maker intellect aristotle is describing - but it looks as if the human mind is just another power belonging to the embodied person. For themisteus, though we each are above all to be identified with the maker intellect, when aristotle says that this is eternal, he is promising us a shared immortality.