Monday, August 28, 2017

Contemplation and Deity

Aristotle's concept of Active Mind, as generating the particulars of a class, seems a likely reference to Deductive Reasoning, and, perhaps, to the pre-Christianized Logos, the deity of some Philosophers.  Now, the motion of such a Mind is inexorable and flawless, and thus neither requires not includes an occasion to pause for second thoughts.  Thus, it includes no occasion for the process of Reflection that humans engage in, perhaps to deliberate before acting, perhaps to learn from past mistakes.  In other words, in the absence of an adequate derivation, Aristotle's self-contemplating deity seems more a product of anthropomorphization than a description of divine nature.

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