Aristotle on Metaphysics(2004) - Bibotu.com

292 THE ULTIMATE CAUSE OF CHANGE: GOD9The ultimate cause of change, and the rational orderof the cosmosThe ultimate cause of change is in the first instance the cause of therational motion of the outermost heaven. But <strong>Aristotle</strong> argues (especially inXII. 10) that the ultimate cause of change is, indirectly and byconsequence, also the cause of rational order, in particular rational change,throughout the whole ordered universe, the cosmos:But we must also consider in which way the nature of the wholecontains the good and the best, whether it contains this assomething separated and by itself, or as its order. But perhaps itcontains it in both these ways, like an army does; for the goodness ofan army is contained both in its order and in its general. But it ismore in the general; for it is not he that is due to the order, rather theorder is due to him.(XII. 10, 1075 a 11–15)He concludes:The rule of many is not good; let there be one ruler.(1076 a 4; this is a quotation from Homer’s lliad II. 204)So, just as a good general, who is responsible for the goodness of his army,is distinct from his army and by himself, so the ultimate cause of change,who is responsible for the goodness of the universe, is distinct from theuniverse and by itself: it—or He—is transcendent. But the goodness of theuniverse, like the goodness of an army, is due also to its immanent order—the arrangement and orderly motion of its various parts. Hence thegoodness of the universe, although its cause is ultimately transcendent, alsohas an immanent cause or explanation, namely, order and orderly motion.But how can the causation of the ultimate cause of change extendfurther than its immediate effect, the everlasting, uniform, circular motionof the outermost heaven? And how can the ultimate cause of change alsobe the cause of the rational order, in particular the orderly motion andchange, throughout the universe? The motion of the first heaven is themost perfect example of rational change in nature, but such rationalchange is present, <strong>Aristotle</strong> thinks, throughout the universe. But theuniverse is not only full of motions and changes that are rational, i.e.subject to explanation; it is also full of rational motions and changes that