In philosophy and religion, the word noetic, from the Greek νοῦς (nous) is usually translated as "mind", "understanding", "intellect", or "reason". Most dictionaries define the term noetic as a synonym of "mental" or "intellectual." From the nous emerges the world soul, which gives rise to the manifest realm.

The ancient Pythagoreans and Platonists used the term to mean "the cosmic soul". According to Neo-Platonic cosmology, the nous emanates from the One. Anaxagoras wrote:

All other things partake in a portion of everything, while Nous is infinite and self-ruled, and is mixed with nothing, but is alone, itself by itself. For if it were not by itself, but were mixed with anything else, it would partake in all things if it were mixed with any; for in everything there is a portion of everything, as has been said by me in what goes before, and the things mixed with it would hinder it, so that it would have power over nothing in the same way that it has now being alone by itself. For it is the thinnest of all things and the purest, and it has all knowledge about everything and the greatest strength; and Nous has power over all things, both greater and smaller, that have soul. (Translation by J. Burnet)

In recent decades, the term has taken on new usages. Edmund Husserl used noetic (from noesis) to refer to the intentional act of consciousness (believing, willing, hating and loving ...)^*. Walter J. Ong and James A. Berlin used the term noetic to describe a "noetic economy", "noetic processes" and "noetic field." Cultural historian William Irwin Thompson refers to a "noetic polity." The Institute of Noetic Sciences defines noetic as, roughly, 'relating to consciousness or intuition'. The mystical, cosmic and holistic connotations of the term are why the New Age movement has embraced the term noetic and used it to refer to the exploration of individual or cosmic consciousness.

See also

• Noosphere
• Transcendental phenomenology
• Epistemology

External links

• Anaxagoras : NOUS
• "Knowledge, Power and Control: Some Issues in Epistemology"
• "Toward an Epistemology for Response Research"
• "Toward a field theory of journalism"
• "What is Noetic" by the Institute of Noetic Sciences
• FIONS – Friends of the Institute of Noetic Sciences

References

• James A. Berlin (1984), "Writing Instruction in Nineteenth-Century American Colleges", ISBN 0809311666
• Walter J. Ong (1982), "Orality and Literacy", ISBN 0415027969

Consciousness studies