Anaxagoras and Societal Nous

Anaxagoras developed a vision of matter that can deeply impact our own understanding of societal frameworks. He wrote that within each part of matter in the material world, there was potential for all other parts. Each bit of matter was infinitely divisible, and could become anything based on the bidding of the Nous. This Nous was an ordering force completely separate from matter yet simultaneously painfully immanent in how it rearranged the world. For an amount of matter to be what we call a piece of gold, gold would have to be the dominant nature, which was decided by Anaxagoras’s ordering force. The material used to create anything, even when in actuality a single item, still contained potentiality for any form of matter. At any given time the Nous determined the form which matter took. All the while, matter remained full of its inherent and infinite potential. When this framework of potentiality and actuality is applied to human action, it can help understand how unlimited human potential is siloed into a smaller set of predominant outcomes. Culture and government are functionally external forces imposed upon people in the present by those who created them in the past. While this is not true in a strict philosophical sense, functionally we are formed by, and live within, a world shaped by structures outside our control. This inability to initially shape ourselves or quickly change our circumstances emphasizes our responsibility to shape institutions and culture to the benefit of those that come after us. 

Every human contains infinitely indivisible potential for both good and evil. The great atrocities of the 20th century and the selfless sacrifices of those who resisted stand as clear examples of the vast variation possible in human nature. People are not constrained to any specific set of outcomes, but rather possess a touch of the infinite in a world of finite materiality. Although embodied and material beings, each person has infinite potential actions at their fingertips. While both matter and humans are inherently finite and limited, their possession of the infinite in potentiality gives great power to whichever forces control them. People are not able to do whatever they wish, but along the axis from good to evil every individual has almost unlimited choice even within the bounds of any physical constraint. While some may have access to far more resources than others, the boundaries of self-sacrifice and hatred are free to be pushed by anyone. While few will act in a uniquely good or evil way, every person has the potential to reach either the depths or heights of human action. To be clear, the possession of this potential does not mean that it is practically possible, but rather that it cannot be ruled out theoretically. …