completed essay, finally. Disregard what follows. The lower and higher planes of existence are without separation in the Aristotelian perspective. It is from the beginning-less and endless chain of cause and effect that Aristotle derives all of his theories. The pinnacle of consciousness is described as contemplation of thought itself. This is said by the philosopher to be the state from which the Unmoved Mover (or Aristotles most high god) exists. From the bottom to the top, the all is examined by the philosopher, and the ability to examine such is evidence of mans divine right formed by divinity of thought, from which man may proceed toward perfection. It can be concluded from Aristotles words that the Unmoved Mover is the first cause, or more appropriately, the un-caused Cause. It it this being, for whom and from whom, the all exists. It can also be seen on a more subtle train of contemplation of Aristotles works that the all exists by means of Gods thought. The Unmoved Mover has qualities which are best understood through negation, or as many ancient philosophers have said, by way of no. It can be more clearly understood as emptiness or nothingness, as there truly can be no clear understanding of what is infinite, because what is infinite cannot be grasped by the fetters of thought. Aristotle, having a scientific outlook, uses this method of negation to characterize, yet at the same time disseminate the Unmoved Movers being as follows: It has been shown also that this substance cannot have any magnitude, but it is without parts and indivisible (for it produce movement through infinite time, but nothing finite has infinite power; and, while every magnitude is either infinite or finite it cannot for the above reason, have finite magnitude, and it cannot have infinite magnitude for there is no infinite magnitude at all). Although all of this seems to be very profound and cryptic, it can all be melted down to say that God cannot be a thing, and the reason being that god must be infinite and what is infinite transcends all composition. Therefore, god is immaterial, yet omnipresent as substance. Aristotles god is best seen without being seen, that is, without composition. To understand this idea in a fuller sense, it is best to consider and explain further why the unmoved mover is without composition. To apply composition to the unmoved mover would mean that the mover is ultimately a thing in the sense that Aristotle describes in physics. He says, That out of which a thing comes to be and which persists is called a cause. This would mean that the un-caused cause would have a cause, or that the unmoved mover, was moved to be such. The Unmoved mover cannot be such a thing as that would make it moved or acted upon, which contrasts the title given to the being by Aristotle. Furthermore, were the Unmoved Mover to have composition it would have been given form and therefore moved from formlessness to form, which would mean there would be cause attributed to the un-caused cause as all things have their primary source of the change or coming to rest. We are not left without a clue into what can be seen at least as the theoretical aspects of the Unmoved Mover. After all, if nothing else, the god would exist at least as an idea. But Aristotle finds it important to add in that the actuality of thought is life, and God is that actuality. We can see here that God is the substance of thought actualized, or more simply termed life. This life is then the producer of all things, and we can see that all things are created by means of creative thought being actualized, or given life. As an example, we may find it well to look to the first thing which cam from that creative thought: For spatial motion is the first of the kinds of change, and motion in a circle the first kind of spatial motion, and this the first mover produces. We can see here that the god of life has actualized its original thought of this thing called motion, and seeking further, we can see that this thing is living because it also is of that actualized thought. In turn, if you wish to examine further, this life is the cause of further life, as what has been cause is now a cause in itself. This can be seen continuing to create causes also, by transference of the life possessed by it for having existence, for that which exists, exists by means of that actualized thought, and shares the nature of it. For now we may step away from the unmoved mover so that we may consider creation and its pinnacle. The best specimine to examine on this occasion is man, as we have experience as such, and we exist, therefore, we potentially possess the same abilities of actualized thought. It is in our ability to think that we are related to the unmoved mover. Aristotle comes to the conclusion that thought itself is the pinnacle of man by examining the soul of man and of the world. The philosopher concludes such by qualitatively organizing the qualities of soul into a sort of hierarchy as spoken of in excerpts from on the Soul, which needs not to be delved into for the time being for the sake of magnitude. Instead, it would be appropriate to understand that thought is declared the pinnacle as thought is life potentially. The philosopher lays subtle claim to this in saying thinking in itself deals with that which is best in itself, and that which is thinking in the fullest sense, with that which is best in the fullest sense. (828) It can now be understood that thinking on thought itself is the pinnacle in man, for that ability is not only of man, but of God also. We see it said that thought thinks on itself because it shares the nature of the object of thought (p. 828). The words may be understood by some to be simply the contemplation of the psyche. But would God truly devote himself to the action of contemplating such for eternity? This leads me to believe that in this phrase there is something which aims to transcend the language used. The key to understanding such can be understood by the phrase which says, The actuality of thought is life. Using the key given here we can see the key of creation by the unmoved mover, that life breeds new life, and that reality is becoming, and it is perfect in the sense that it is in the perfect process of becoming so.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 05:56:42 +0000
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