Within Reason #48 Edward Feser - Aristotle's Argument for God
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Dec 16, 2023 Edward Feser, American Catholic philosopher and Associate Professor of Philosophy at Pasadena City College, discusses the Aristotelean argument from motion, potentiality and actuality, hierarchical causal series, existence of an actual infinite, causality, essence and existence, and the argument from contingency.
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Aristotle's Analysis of Change
- Aristotle refutes Parmenides' and Zeno's denial of motion by introducing potentiality.
- Change isn't something from nothing, but actualization of potential, a kind of reality.
Parmenides and Monism
- Parmenides believed change and multiplicity are illusions, deducible from first principles.
- He argued nothingness doesn't exist, thus no empty space can separate objects, leading to monism.
The Unmoved Mover
- Existence requires a purely actual actualizer, a bottom level of reality not needing actualization.
- This unmoved mover, called God, explains existence, with further arguments for divine attributes.