ABSTRACT
This chapter gives an analysis of learned ignorance in Arabic Plotinus (AP) and compares the doctrine to a related theme, that of a “potency higher than knowledge”. In Aristotelian terms, it is knowledge that falls short of complete scientific demonstration, which the Adaptor calls “proper and complete.” Again, this doctrine of ignorance of the lower would have a significant corollary regarding God. As the passage continues, the Adaptor introduces further distinctions between potency in its higher manifestation, which grasps all at once, and the lower potency which requires act. A more fruitful parallel is provided by the passage in the Sentences, which speaks of an anoesia kreittoni noeseos, a “non-intellection better than intellection.” The chapter finally discusses the possibility that the doctrine has its source in the thought of Porphyry.
