Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-21T12:22:56.062Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - Aristotle and the Arguments for Eternity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2009

Kenneth Seeskin
Affiliation:
Northwestern University, Illinois
Get access

Summary

According to maimonides, aristotle believed that the world is eternal and that it has always existed in the form in which it now exists. As Davidson remarks, the latter claim is important because Maimonides' rendering of the Platonic view is that although the material component of the world is eternal, its form or structure was imposed by God during creation. This is why the Platonic view leaves room for divine volition. The Aristotelian view does not because it denies both creation ex nihilo and the creation of the cosmos de novo. In the words of Maimonides (GP 2.12, p. 284): “He [Aristotle] thinks that this being as a whole, such as it is, has never ceased to be and will never do so; that the permanent thing not subject to generation and passing-away, namely the heaven, likewise does not cease to be; that time and motion are perpetual and everlasting and not subject to generation and passing-away; and also that the thing subject to generation and passing-away, namely, that which is beneath the sphere of the moon, does not cease to be.” As such, the Aristotelian position understands creation as eternal dependence on God and constitutes the extreme opposite of the Mosaic.

The crux of this position is a principle articulated throughout the Aristotelian corpus: anything that is eternal is necessary. If the present form of the world always was and always will be, it is necessary and no other form is possible.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×