Aristotle and Plato on God as Nous and as the Good

Review of Metaphysics 45 (3):543 - 573 (1992)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

ARISTOTLE PRESENTS HIS DOCTRINE OF GOD as the first unmoved mover as the crown of his metaphysics, and thus of his entire theoretical philosophy. He obviously considers it an important achievement. Yet the doctrine has been peculiarly resistant to interpretation. It is difficult to know where to break in to Aristotle's theology: certainly not with his proof that the first mover must be unmoved. The proof has clearly been developed for the sake of the conclusion and not vice versa. How did this conclusion occur to Aristotle, and why did he want it to be true?

Categories

Keywords

Reprint years

ISBN(s)

00346632

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 91,219

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

My notes

Similar books and articles

The Carpenter and the Good.Rachel Barney - 2007 - In Douglas Cairns, Fritz-Gregor Herrmann & Terrence Penner (eds.), Pursuing the Good: Ethics and Metaphysics in Plato's Republic. University of Edinburgh. pp. 293-319.
The Virtue Of God In Aristotle.Marguerite Deslauriers - 2004 - Philosophy and Theology 16 (1):3-23.
Aristotle’s dilemma.A. F. Mackay - 2005 - The Journal of Ethics 9 (3-4):533 - 549.
The Primacy of Relation over Substance and the Recovery of a Theological Metaphysics.Adrian Pabst - 2007 - American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 81 (4):553-578.
From Plato's good to Platonic God.Lloyd Gerson - 2008 - International Journal of the Platonic Tradition 2 (2):93-112.
Dialectic as inter-personal activity: Self-refutation and dialectic in Plato and Aristotle / Luca Castagnoli ; The role of the respondent in Plato and Aristotle / Marja-Liisa Kakkuri-Knuuttila ; Division as a method in Plato.Hallvard Fossheim - 2012 - In Jakob Leth Fink (ed.), The development of dialectic from Plato to Aristotle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
A discourse on the good.Helier J. Robinson - 1992 - Journal of Value Inquiry 26 (3):409-416.
The Harmony of Plato and Aristotle.Matthew S. Linck - 2006 - Philosophy in the Contemporary World 13 (2):38-44.
Gorgias' defense: Plato and his opponents on rhetoric and the good.Rachel Barney - 2010 - Southern Journal of Philosophy 48 (1):95-121.
Dialectical methodology: What is behind the ti esti question? / Vasilis Politis ; Socratic induction in Plato and Aristotle / Hayden W. Ausland ; Aristotle's definition of elenchus in the light of Plato's Sophist / Louis-Andre Dorion ; The Aristotelian elenchus / Robert Bolton ; Aristotle's gradual turn from dialectic.Wolfgang Kullmann - 2012 - In Jakob Leth Fink (ed.), The development of dialectic from Plato to Aristotle. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Plato on God as Nous. [REVIEW]Joseph G. DeFilippo - 1997 - Ancient Philosophy 17 (1):189-196.
Why God does not exist.Peter Simons - unknown

Analytics

Added to PP
2011-05-29

Downloads
215 (#89,476)

6 months
14 (#154,299)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Stephen Menn
Humboldt-University, Berlin

Citations of this work

The Metaphysics of Goodness in the Ethics of Aristotle.Samuel Baker - 2017 - Philosophical Studies 174 (7):1839-1856.
After the Ascent: Plato on Becoming Like God.John M. Armstrong - 2004 - Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy 26:171-183.
Two Dogmas of (Modern) Aristotle Scholarship.Tom Angier - 2019 - Ancient Philosophy Today 1 (2):237-255.

View all 31 citations / Add more citations

References found in this work

Lord Samuel's Speech at Lord Halsbury's Reception.[author unknown] - 1959 - Philosophy 34 (131):377-381.

Add more references