Tahafut_al-Tahafut-transl-Engl-van-den-Bergh

that the parts of heaven have many movements through many movers,
this cannot be correct according to their own principles, for they affirm that
the circular movement is unique, and that the body moved by it is unique,
and therefore heaven is not in search of a place through its circular
movement, and it is thus possible that in heaven there should be
something through which it aims at the movement itself.
But the justification of the philosophers is that they only say this to such
people as believe that the stars change their place through a natural
movement, similar to the change of place found in things moved by
nature. And the true assumption of the philosophers is that through the
circular movement the thing moved is not in search of a place, but only
seeks the circular movement itself, and that things which behave in this
way have of necessity as their mover a soul and not nature. Movement,
that is to say, has existence only in the intellect, since outside the soul
there exists only the thing moved and in it there is only a particular
movement without any lasting existence. ; But what is moved towards
movement in so far as it is movement must of necessity desire this
movement, and what desires movement must of necessity represent it.
And this is one of the arguments through which it is evident that the
heavenly bodies are provided with intellect and desire; and this is clear
also from various other arguments, one of which is that we find that
circular bodies move with two contrary movements at the same time,
towards the east and towards the west; and this cannot happen through
nature, for that which moves through nature moves in one movement
alone. ‘
And we have already spoken of what caused the philosophers to believe
that heaven possesses intellect, and their plainest proof is that, having
understood that the mover of heaven is free from matter, they concluded
that it can only move through being an object of thought and
representation, and therefore the thing moved must be capable of thought
and representation. And this is clear also from the fact that the movement
of the heavens is a condition of the existence and preservation of the
existents in the sublunary world, which cannot take place by accident. But
these things can only be explained here in an informative and persuasive
fashion.
382