Page 8 - GALIET BEING´S KALEIDOSCOPE: The First Unmoved Mover: Aristotle IV

In Books VII and VIII of the Physics,1 Aristotle presents a persuasive argument that favors the existence, by necessity, of an unmoved first mover rather than a moved first mover as the first cause of the universe, mainly to explain change and motion. Although his argument is perspicuous, it does pose a series of challenges in these following areas: (a) immanence versus transcendence; (b) self-knowledge versus universal knowledge; (c) what is its origin?; and (d) what is real?. However, before assessing Aristotle's argument, we must have an understanding of his definitions of first mover, of motion and of their intrinsic relationship to causalty.
While we usually think of the first mover as being the «one» primordial source or entity that causes the universe to exist, Aristotle does refer to a «plurality» of first movers (Phys. 8, 258b1, 11; 259a1, 6-28; Met. 8, 1074a1, 31-38). This opinion is derived from Aristotle's reasoning that each of the spheres in the cosmos necessitates an unmoved mover, suggesting as many unmoved movers as there are spheres or as types of motion.2 In
1 Barnes, Jonathan. The Complete Works of Aristotle. Princeton/Bolinger Series LXXI. 2. New Jersey, USA: Princeton University Press. 1995.
2 Eudoxus proposed 26 spheres, Callipus proposed 33 (http://tedhuntington.com/ulsf.htm) and Aristotle speaks of 47 or 55 spheres
(http://www.physics.ubc.ca/~berciu/PHILIP/TEACHING/PHYS340/NOTES/F ILES/Aristotle.pdf)
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