A History of Mediaeval Jewish PhilosophyHusik, Isaac
ReligionJewish
A History of Mediaeval Jewish Philosophy
Husik, Isaac
Philosophy, Jewish; Philosophy, Medieval
We start with something that is known, namely, the motion we see in the
sublunar world, the motion which is involved in all the processes of
genesis and decay and change generally. This motion must have a mover
(25). This mover must have another mover to move it, and this would lead
us to infinity, which is impossible (3). We find, however, that all
motion here below ends with the motion of the heaven. Let us take an
example. The wind is blowing through an opening in the wall. I take a
stone and stop up the hole. Here the stone is moved by the hand, the
hand by the tendons, the tendons by the nerves, the nerves by the veins,
the veins by the natural heat, the natural heat by the animal soul, the
animal soul by a purpose, namely, to stop the hole from which the wind
comes, the purpose by the wind, the wind by the motion of the heavenly
sphere. But this is not the end. The sphere must also have a mover (17).
This mover is either outside the sphere it moves or within it. If it is
something outside, it is either again a body like the sphere, or an
incorporeal thing, a "Separate Intelligence." If the mover of the sphere
is something within the sphere, two alternatives are again possible. The
internal moving power of the sphere may be a corporeal force extended
throughout the body of the sphere and divisible with it like heat, or an
indivisible power like soul or intellect (10, 11). We thus have four
possibilities in all. The mover of the heavenly sphere may be (a) a body
external to the sphere; (b) a separate incorporeal substance; (c) an
internal corporeal power divisible with the division of the sphere; (d)
an internal indivisible power. Of these four, (a) is impossible. For if
the mover of the sphere is another body, it is likewise in motion (9)
and must have another to move it, which, if a body, must have another,
and so on _ad infinitum_, which is impossible (2). The third hypothesis,
(c), is likewise impossible. For as the sphere is a body it is finite
(1), and its power is also finite (12), since it is divisible with the
body of the sphere (11). Hence it cannot move infinitely (26). Nor can
we adopt the last alternative, (d). For a soul residing within the
sphere could not alone be the cause of continuous motion. For a soul
that moves its body is itself in motion _per accidens_ (6); and whatever
moves _per accidens_ must necessarily sometime stop (8), and with it the
thing set in motion by it will stop also. There is thus only one
alternative left, (b), _viz._, that the cause of the motion of the
sphere is a "separate" (_i. e._, incorporeal) power, which is itself not
subject to motion either _per se_ or _per accidens_; hence it is
indivisible and unchangeable (7, 5). This is God. He cannot be two or
more, for "separate" essences which are not body are not subject to
number unless one is cause and the other effect (16). It follows, too,
that he is not subject to time, for there is no time without motion
(15).
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