Dec 12, 2006
Thus Spake the Philosopher
By Timothy R. Butler | Posted at 0:16:50
Here's something rather pithy I found in Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics.
It is to be noted that nothing that is past is an object of choice, e.g. no one chooses to have sacked Troy; for no one deliberates about the past, but about what is future and capable of being otherwise, while what is past is not capable of not having taken place; hence Agathon is right in saying
For this alone is lacking even to God,
To make undone things thathave once been done.
I think Aristotle makes an incorrect claim about God here, in as much as I will affirm the traditional Christian notion that God is the creator of, and hence above, time. In that context, it is really irrelevant to speak in terms of what has already occurred when referring to God. Thoughts?
Agreed. God can change the past if it suits Him, but we'd never know. He created Time itself, and it is subject to His whims, as are all created things and beings.
I'm not sure why Aristotle went this direction on the point. I should look into it some more. Although maybe an insistence on a completely linear motion was intended to strengthen Aristotle's cosmological argument. Hmm.
I think the really amazing thing is that Aristotle, through his logic and reason, was able to leave behind polytheism and become a Monotheist and Deist. Where he fell short was in realizing his “Prime Mover†never stopped setting up and rearranging the dominoes.
Very true, Jason. I think he definitely pushed natural reason about as far as it'd go. It'd be very interesting to have met him.