
Can AI think? Here's what Greek philosophers might say
When I ask whether artificial intelligence can 'think,' however, I often look upon a sea of blank faces. What is 'thinking,' and how is it the same or different from 'intelligence'?
We might treat the two as more or less synonymous, but philosophers have marked nuances for millennia. Greek philosophers may not have known about 21st-century technology, but their ideas about intellect and thinking can help us understand what's at stake with AI today.
The divided line
Although the English words 'intellect' and 'thinking' do not have direct counterparts in ancient Greek, looking at ancient texts offers useful comparisons.
In Republic, for example, Plato uses the analogy of a 'divided line' separating higher and lower forms of understanding.
Plato, who taught in the fourth century BCE, argued that each person has an intuitive capacity to recognize the truth. He called this the highest form of understanding: 'noesis.' Noesis enables apprehension beyond reason, belief, or sensory perception. It's one form of 'knowing' something—but in Plato's view, it's also a property of the soul.
Lower down, but still above his 'dividing line,' is 'dianoia,' or reason, which relies on argumentation. Below the line, his lower forms of understanding are 'pistis,' or belief, and 'eikasia,' or imagination.
Pistis is belief influenced by experience and sensory perception: input that someone can critically examine and reason about. Plato defines eikasia, meanwhile, as baseless opinion rooted in false perception.
In Plato's hierarchy of mental capacities, direct, intuitive understanding is at the top, and moment-to-moment physical input toward the bottom. The top of the hierarchy leads to true and absolute knowledge, while the bottom lends itself to false impressions and beliefs. But intuition, according to Plato, is part of the soul, and embodied in human form. Perceiving reality transcends the body—but still needs one.
So, while Plato does not differentiate between 'intelligence' and 'thinking,' I would argue that his distinctions can help us think about AI. Without being embodied, AI may not 'think' or 'understand' the way humans do. Eikasia—the lowest form of comprehension, based on false perceptions—may be similar to AI's frequent 'hallucinations,' when it makes up information that seems plausible but is actually inaccurate.
Embodied thinking
Aristotle, Plato's student, sheds more light on intelligence and thinking.
In On the Soul, Aristotle distinguishes 'active' from 'passive' intellect. Active intellect, which he called 'nous,' is immaterial. It makes meaning from experience, but transcends bodily perception. Passive intellect is bodily, receiving sensory impressions without reasoning.
We could say that these active and passive processes, put together, constitute 'thinking.' Today, the word 'intelligence' holds a logical quality that AI's calculations may conceivably replicate. Aristotle, however, like Plato, suggests that to 'think' requires an embodied form and goes beyond reason alone.
Aristotle's views on rhetoric also show that deliberation and judgment require a body, feeling, and experience. We might think of rhetoric as persuasion, but it is actually more about observation: observing and evaluating how evidence, emotion, and character shape people's thinking and decisions. Facts matter, but emotions and people move us—and it seems questionable whether AI utilizes rhetoric in this way.
Finally, Aristotle's concept of 'phronesis' sheds further light on AI's capacity to think. In Nicomachean Ethics, he defines phronesis as 'practical wisdom' or 'prudence.' Phronesis involves lived experience that determines not only right thought, but also how to apply those thoughts to 'good ends,' or virtuous actions. AI may analyze large datasets to reach its conclusions, but 'phronesis' goes beyond information to consult wisdom and moral insight.
'Thinking' robots?
Today, AI takes on many physical forms, from autonomous vehicles and humanoid robots to healthcare robots and drones. If intelligence requires embodiment, as Plato and Aristotle believed, it might seem as if AI is coming closer than ever to human thinking.
AI does take on many forms, but they're still not bodies; they run on code, algorithms, and datasets. Intuitive understanding, emotion, integrity, and practical wisdom seem to require an embodied, perishable form that is moved by experience.
Perhaps we should ask AI itself—so I did. When I prompted ChatGPT with the simple question, 'Can you think?,' it responded: 'I can process information, analyze patterns, and generate responses based on data. So, in some ways, it might 'seem' like I'm thinking. But it's not thinking like a human does. I don't have consciousness, emotions, intentions, or awareness. Everything I 'do' is based on patterns learned from huge amounts of text and a set of rules and probabilities. I can 'simulate' certain aspects of thinking, but I don't truly think or understand in the human sense.'

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
13 minutes ago
- Yahoo
China calls for global 'consensus' on AI regulation
Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Saturday urged the international community to build a global consensus on artificial intelligence (AI) governance, highlighting security risks amid the raging tech race between Beijing and Washington. Speaking at the opening of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, Li said it is prudent to look at "how to find a balance between development and security [which] urgently requires further consensus from the entire society." Li also announced the creation of a Chinese-led body to promote global AI cooperation and open-source development to keep AI from becoming "the preserve of a few countries and a few enterprises." What is the tech rivalry between the US and China? The three-day WAIC event comes amid intensifying US-China competition in advanced AI technology. Just days before, US President Donald Trump announced the slashing of AI regulations to maintain the US' dominance in the field even as Washington continues to restrict exports of high-end chips to China, citing national security concerns. These restrictions are forcing Chinese companies to look for alternatives, with startup DeepSeek introducing an AI model in January that matched the performance of leading US systems, despite working on less advanced chips. Li, without naming the US, criticized monopolistic control and called for open access to AI technologies, warning of insufficient supply of AI chips and restrictions on talent exchange otherwise. "Only by adhering to openness, sharing and fairness in access to intelligence can more countries and groups benefit from (AI)," he said. 'AI a test of international cooperation' At the WAIC opening ceremony, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a video message that AI regulation would be "a defining test of international cooperation." More than 800 companies are participating in this year's WAIC, showcasing over 3,000 tech innovations. While Chinese firms like Huawei and Alibaba are the main entrants, international firms including US-based companies Tesla, Alphabet, and Amazon are also present. Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
This robot system by TikTok parent ByteDance can fold clothes and clear your table thanks to AI
TikTok parent company ByteDance has built a robotic system that allows bots to perform household tasks such as folding laundry and cleaning tables. The system uses artificial intelligence (AI) that allows robots to follow language commands and carry out tasks. China, where ByteDance is based, has been developing the technology at lightning speed with the development of its DeepSeek and Manus. According to chip designer Nvidia, robotics is the next phase of AI. That's because while tech companies have been trying to build a general-purpose robot for years, programming robots is difficult. However, with AI, it becomes much easier. Related Cannibal robot? Scientists develop a robot that can grow and heal by eating others What did ByteDance do? ByteDance built a large-scale vision-language-action (VLA) model called GR-3, which allows robots to follow natural language commands and do general tasks. GR-3 can be thought of as the brain of the robot. ByteDance used a robot called ByteMini for the experiment. After GR-3 was inserted into it, the robot could put a shirt on a hanger and place it on a clothing rack. Video by the company also shows the robot picking up household items and placing them in a designated spot. It could differentiate between sizes, successfully following commands to pick up the 'larger plate'. It also completed tasks such as cleaning up the dining table. ByteDance's Seed department, which heads the company's AI research and large language model (LLM) development, said it trained the model with image and text data and then fine-tuned it with data from humans interacting in virtual reality. It was also taught to copy the movements of real robots. Related Humanoids will be the next phase of AI. This is how to train a robot, according to Nvidia ByteDance appears to be increasingly focusing on AI, launching the Seed department in 2023. The new development comes as TikTok is facing another threat of being banned in the US unless the company sells its American assets. US commerce secretary Howard Lutnick reiterated this on Thursday, saying, 'China can have a little piece or ByteDance, the current owner, can keep a little piece'. 'But basically, Americans will have control. Americans will own the technology, and Americans will control the algorithm,' Lutnick told CNBC, adding that if this doesn't happen, 'TikTok is going to go dark, and those decisions are coming very soon'.
Yahoo
41 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Fluence Energy (FLNC): Among the Energy Stocks that Soared This Week
The share price of Fluence Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLNC) surged by 22.72% between July 15 and July 22, 2025, putting it among the Energy Stocks that Gained the Most This Week. An assembly line of lithium-ion batteries for energy storage solutions with workers in the background. Fluence Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLNC) is a global market leader delivering intelligent energy storage and optimization software for renewables and storage. Fluence Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLNC) managed to garner a positive outlook from a number of analysts over the last week, leading to rising investor confidence and a sharp uptick in the company's share price. It was revealed last week that Barclays analyst Christine Cho has almost doubled the firm's price target for FLNC from $5 to $9, while maintaining an 'Equal Weight' rating on its shares. Similarly, JPMorgan also raised its price target for Fluence Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLNC) from $5 to $8, while reiterating a 'Neutral' rating. Moreover, the analysts at Susquehanna also raised FLNC's price target from $6 to $11, while keeping a 'Positive' rating on its shares. Fluence Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ:FLNC) also received a boost following the announcement that it had been selected by VERBUND to build two large-scale battery-based storage systems in Germany that will achieve a total output of over 92 MW and a storage capacity of 186 MWh. While we acknowledge the potential of FLNC as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 10 Best Nuclear Energy Stocks to Buy Right Now and The 5 Energy Stocks Billionaires are Quietly Piling Into. Disclosure: None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data