Does "Denkendes" refer to someone or something which is thinking?

Question

Überall ist Gedanke und im Gedanken Denken und Denkendes, zuerst und zuletzt persönlicher Geist, der selbst in den räumlich-zeitlichen Dingen sich ausdrückt und bet[h]ätigt

Is Denkendes referring to someone or something which is thinking?

Answer 1

I'd say it can refer to both. Without further qualification "Denkendes" is "that what thinks" and in the quote could refer to something or someone, since the hypothesis is "Überall ist Gedanke" ("Thought is everywhere").

Answer 2

YES

The verb is "denken" (to think).

Ich denke.
I think.

The present participle is "denkend" (thinking).

Der Professor sitzt denkend am Tisch.
The professor sits thinking at the table.

In this form it also can be used as an attribute (i.e. like an adjective).

Der denkende Professor sitzt am Tisch.
The thinking professor sits at the table.

And this attribute can be nominalized, i.e. it is used like a noun when the "original" noun is left. Because it is nominalized, i.e. a noun, it also has to be written with an uppercase letter as first letter.

Der Denkende sitzt am Tisch.
The thinking sits at the table.

And if you use it with an indefinite article, and if it represents something with a neuter gender (e.g. "das Kind" = "the child"), then you have:

Ein Denkendes sitzt am Tisch.
A thinking sits at the table.

What is thinking can be a person with a grammatical neuter gender, like "das Kind" = "the child" or "das Mädchen" = "the girl" or "das Männchen" = "the little man" or a thing ("das Gerät" = "the device", "das Elektronengehirn" = "the electronic brain"), as long as its grammatical gender is neuter.

If it was masculine ("der Mann" = "the man", "der Computer" = "the computer"), it would be:

Ein Denkender sitzt am Tisch.
A thinking sits at the table.

And here is the feminine version ("die Frau" = "the woman", "die Maschine" = "the machine"):

Eine Denkende sitzt am Tisch.
A thinking sits at the table.

Btw: I know that nominalized adjectives and participles are rare in English, but they still exist ("the good, the bad and the ugly", "the poor and the rich").