9. Teleology and the Cosmos

Author: Johnson, Monte Ransome

Source: Aristotle on Teleology, November 2005 , pp. 247-287(41)

Publisher: Oxford Scholarship Online Monographs

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Abstract:

Aristotle’s cosmos consists of natural substances, each with its own proper functions, motions, and ends. To this extent, his cosmos is teleological. But there is no overall or cosmic teleology in a stronger sense, above and beyond the applicability of teleological explanations to each of the natural things. For the universe (or nature as a whole) does not have a proper function, or motions, goods or ends. The stars, elements, plants, animals and humans do, and nature is the principle of motion and the end for each of these. In the final chapter of Metaphysics XII (Lambda), Aristotle discusses an aporia about how the good exists in “the nature of the whole”. He ends not with a positive account, but with a criticism of his predecessors who have advanced an account of an extrinsic cause of the cosmos.

Keywords: axiology; god; plants; animals; ethics; stars; teleological proof; motion; anthropocentrism; cosmos

Document Type: Research article

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