Author(s)

RuoNan Liu

Affiliation(s)

Keystone Academy, Beijing 101138, China.

Corresponding Author

RuoNan Liu

ABSTRACT

The Prime Mover, as a god-like principle in Aristotle’s Metaphysics, remains widely debated among contemporary scholars. In the text, it is not as elaborated when compared to the four causes of action; though, the prime mover serves as the first cause of all existence, explaining the origin and nature of reality itself. Aristotle introduces it not as a religious deity, but as a logical necessity to avoid the problem of infinite regress, the impossibility of something causing itself, since it would have to precede its own existence. Applied to the social realm, this implies that individuals cannot be the efficient cause of their own existence, nor can phenomenon such as the law of gravity or the existence of the world be self-caused. In modern discourse, critics challenge the relevance of the Prime Mover, arguing that science, though rooted in Aristotelian physics, can explain many phenomena once thought unexplained, and that the issue of infinite regress is potentially solvable. Consequently, some regard the concept as obsolete or irrelevant in modern context. This essay examines the contemporary role of the Prime Mover and concludes that it remains relevant precisely because not only because of heavy dependence from influential Christian theology exemplified by Thomas Aquinas but also that scientific truth is provisional, and many phenomena persist beyond current explanation.

KEYWORDS

Metaphysics; Prime mover; Causality; Science; Logic

CITE THIS PAPER

RuoNan Liu. Aristotle's prime mover and its significance in modern context. Journal of Religion, Ethics, and Philosophy. 2026, 3(1): 1-4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.61784/jrep3012.

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