Abstract

The human intellect has the capacity to assimilate the external world to man. This assimilation takes place according to the proper mode of the intellect that has an intentional manner to know. Thus is realized the act of knowing by which man manages to read from within the different realities, according to the etymology of the Latin word intellectus. Yet the intellect is not the only spiritual capacity of man, but there is also the will. The latter has a special role in the act of intellectual knowledge. It is dependent on the action of the intellect, but it also influences the action of the intellect. In the following article I analyze this interdependence, especially the place of desire in the act of knowledge. Thomas Aquinas attributed desire to the will. In which sense can we attribute desire to the intellect as well?