Explain Aristotle's understanding of the Prime Mover
Explain Aristotle's understanding of the Prime Mover (25 marks)
In Aristotle's book the Metaphysics, he calls the cause of all movement the Prime Mover (P.M). The Prime Mover to Aristotle is the first of all substances, the necessary first sources of movement which itself is unmoved. It is a being which is eternal, and in Metaphysics Aristotle also calls this being ‘God’. However, before he came to know the existence of the P.M he first started noticing the constant changes around him, which led him to question the existence and the purpose of the world, universe and the things around us.
He examined that everything that exists was in a permanent state of 'movement' or 'motion'. By 'motion' Aristotle was linking it to the Greek word 'motus' which refers to change. He noticed that everything in the universe is in a state of change, for example, the weather and seasons are always changing. Even the human body is going through the process of change every single day. Everyday the body changes, we grow old and age, we lose hair and skin cells.
This led Aristotle to observe four things:
1) The physical world was constantly in a state of motion and change.
2) The planets seemed to be moving eternally.
3) Change or motion is always caused by something.
4) Objects in the physical world were in a state of actuality and potentiality.
Summing up from these four points Aristotle came to a conclusion that something must exist which causes the motion and change to occur without being moved itself and the 'uncaused change' must be eternal. Aristotle reached this conclusion by observing that if something can change, it exists in one 'actual' state and has the 'potential' to become another state, for example, an actual child is potentially an adult and a cow in a field is potentially a piece of roast beef. He realised that if things come to existence they must be caused to exist by something else and if something is capable of change that means it is potentially
In Aristotle's book the Metaphysics, he calls the cause of all movement the Prime Mover (P.M). The Prime Mover to Aristotle is the first of all substances, the necessary first sources of movement which itself is unmoved. It is a being which is eternal, and in Metaphysics Aristotle also calls this being ‘God’. However, before he came to know the existence of the P.M he first started noticing the constant changes around him, which led him to question the existence and the purpose of the world, universe and the things around us.
He examined that everything that exists was in a permanent state of 'movement' or 'motion'. By 'motion' Aristotle was linking it to the Greek word 'motus' which refers to change. He noticed that everything in the universe is in a state of change, for example, the weather and seasons are always changing. Even the human body is going through the process of change every single day. Everyday the body changes, we grow old and age, we lose hair and skin cells.
This led Aristotle to observe four things:
1) The physical world was constantly in a state of motion and change.
2) The planets seemed to be moving eternally.
3) Change or motion is always caused by something.
4) Objects in the physical world were in a state of actuality and potentiality.
Summing up from these four points Aristotle came to a conclusion that something must exist which causes the motion and change to occur without being moved itself and the 'uncaused change' must be eternal. Aristotle reached this conclusion by observing that if something can change, it exists in one 'actual' state and has the 'potential' to become another state, for example, an actual child is potentially an adult and a cow in a field is potentially a piece of roast beef. He realised that if things come to existence they must be caused to exist by something else and if something is capable of change that means it is potentially