Abstract

Aristotle, who has composed several treatises on physics, metaphysics, and so on, has accepted the reality of motion and change, and reasoned that, since everything that moves is moved by something else, there must have been a First Mover. But how can such a being move the whole universe? Aristotle employs the analogy of a lover and his beloved. According to the traditional philosophical account, the First Mover moves the world by being the final cause not the efficient cause. There has been some evidence for such an account, which is accepted by most of philosophers in the West and the East. The author in this essay attempts to prove that such a construction is imperfect, and Aristotle’s first mover is not only a final cause but also an agent cause. Because, first, Aristotle’s argument on the existence of the prime mover entails an agent for motion. Second, Aristotle himself specified the first mover being an agent. Third, the evidence of traditional comment for Aristotle words has been misinterpreted and it doesn’t indicate their claim.