/lit/ - Literature

>itt no one has read aristotle
Unsurprising.

Aristotle argues that the Unmoved Movers (there's 47-55 of them as they are the Olympians) are made out of a special element, quintessence. Quintessence isn't subject to growth or decay, and moves in perfect circles. This is why the chain stops at the Unmoved Movers (they don't create each other btw, Zeus is the "Prime Mover" as he's the one farthest from the Earth). The world itself is a giant swirl of change, but the Gods move in neat and tidy pattern and always have. Their undying nature is why they are divine. Also, the Gods are perfectly spherical, of neutral temperature, and emit no sound as they move, although they do emit light. That light bit is important.

As the Gods move through the heavens, they turn the Celestial Spheres. Technically, the Spheres rotate of their own free will to follow the Gods, as each Sphere Loves (capital L here as this "love" is special) a given God. The Sphere turns, which rotates other things (either things that Love the Sphere and are following it, or things that are lodged in the sphere). Causality is thus "pulled" along by the Gods. So, it's not correct to say that the Gods "created" anything, rather things came about by virtue of their existence. The "Unmoved" bit is also a bit of a pun, as a thing that moves in eternal perfect circles never comes to a rest, so it isn't (According to Aristotle) technically moving. Really, things occur because the Gods exist in some given configuration.

Remember how the Gods emit light? Each God's light has different properties. This is a secondary means by which causality occurs, with their lights causing various phenomena in the sub-lunar (earthly) world. This is why Ares causes war and Aphrodite causes love despite neither actually "doing" anything, they pull causality along as they pseudo-move and emit light that has an affect on things made out of the other four elements (water, fire, air, wood).

You'll notice that this doesn't allow a start point, as the Gods can never be at rest. That's correct, Aristotle argues that we exist in an eternal physical flux, surrounded by the loving intellects of the Gods constantly churning the swirl of matter. All things have been, and will be again, as there is no beginning or end, just eternity. The Gods' lack of true-movement means that they are, in a sense, actually rings, and we just happen to see a slice of them at a given time, with time itself just being the flow of matter (as opposed to the Abrahamic idea of Yahweh's pocket watch). Their lights, then, aren't something that they emit, but rather something static that matter is dancing across.

>>21492925
>in Metaphysics Aristotle is direct in his statement that immaterial substance is the prime question of metaphysics/theology
This has nothing to do with what I said.

>The Unmoved Movers do not possess matter, and are therefore immaterial according to Aristotle's scheme.
They have bodies made out of the fifth element, Quintessence, anon.

>The first few chapters of De Caelo clarify this idea.
You haven't read this text, and I can tell because in it Aristotle not only says that the Unmoved Movers have bodies, but that they also HAVE to have them and cannot be bodyless (it's one of the views that he argues against in the text).

>Aristotle argues pure circular motion is the only motion capable of existing without matter,
Again, you haven't read De Caelo (or Metaphysics, for that matter) as it's Quintessence, WHICH IS MATTTER, that causes pure circular motion. Let's actually use a point from Aristotle about why this has to be: if it doesn't have a body, what moves? If it's just an immaterial bodyless thing, then it doesn't take up space, or move. Hell, let's look at some (now outdated) astrophysics: if it doesn't have a body, how does it turn the Celestial Spheres, and interact with the physical world?

>And even if we forget about how weak Aristotle's argument is for the multiple movers
Why would anyone care about your opinion on texts that you haven't read?

>What you're likely confused about is the celestial beings existing in aether according to Aristotle, which is (again as demonstrated in De Caelo) immaterial substance,
And this just goes back to what's already been said: They aren't "in" aether, they're MADE OF IT. Aristotle's aether isn't the aether of 18th century physics, it's the fifth element (the other four being water, fire, air, and wood) that things (namely the bodies of the Gods) are made out of, it's not an amorphous sea.

>and does not admit of generation and corruption for the previously mentioned reason.
It doesn't allow for generation or corruption because it's MADE OF QUINTESSENCE, which has special properties. The reason that there is no generation or corruption is because the special properties of the matter do not allow for them; generation and corruption are purely physical (as forms can neither be generated, corrupted, nor die) affects of sub-lunar material (that is, water, fire, air, and wood).

>>19236665
where you get the bust?

>>18432904
You're a twink

Women are simply less beautiful than men

If I completely immerse myself in Classical Greek literature and don’t talk to anyone irl or consume any other kind of media, will I begin to view the world from the people of that society’s perspective?