Thursday, March 10, 2011

Circular Motion and Divinity

For Aristotle, the divinity of circular motion consists in its infinitude, in contrast with the finitude of rectilinear motion. Nevertheless, Circularity remains Circulinearity, and is as much a species of Linearity as is Rectilinearity. Now, Alexander, perhaps inspired by the novel Flatland, introduces a different criterion of Deity--higher dimensionality. So, on that basis, Growth is divine with respect to circular motion as much as to linear motion, for, it can be a motion through as many as three dimensions, e. g. an expanding balloon. But, even without accepting Alexander's doctrine, the infinitude of circular motion plainly does not preclude its finitude in other respects, e. g. that it is restricted to one dimension. Hence, just on its own terms, circular motion, even when infinite, is dubious as a characteristic of divinity.

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