The philosopher Cameron names in dialogue 24 as one of "the great minds in the history of the world" and, more pointedly, as the source of the "agent intellect." When Bob glosses McLuhan's real "knowing" — the rational grasp of what is going on, against the endless pattern-recognition of the meme — as the agent intellect from McLuhan's 1950 talk, Cameron traces the term to Aristotle. He stands, with Plato, for the classical depth of questioning the dialogue holds up against the triviality of the present.
Across the dialogues
Enters beside Plato as an exemplary "great mind" and the source of the agent intellect — the classical name for the knowing McLuhan opposes to pattern-recognition
Aristotle is invoked as both exemplar and source — the model of a mind that "could really explore these questions," and the origin of the "agent intellect" by which McLuhan names genuine knowing over pattern-recognition.
"one of the great minds in the history of the world where one could really explore these questions is Aristotle."
Supplies the session's defence of the originary structure — his correction of the standard reading of Plato, and the word dunamis, are what let the stem cell be dynamic rather than an abstraction sitting above the world
The Greek term is made the bridge — self-expression is not something the idea does but what the idea is, which is McLuhan's extension avant la lettre.
"Aristotle said, no. He said it belongs to the ideas to be dynamic. What does dynamic mean? What is dunamis in Greek? It means that it's inherent to something to express itself, right? As McLuhan would say, to be an extension."
Connections
The "agent intellect" McLuhan invokes for real knowing comes, Cameron notes, from Aristotle.