Aristotle called it the “Unmoved Mover” because he was trying to explain the ultimate cause of all motion (or change) in the universe without falling into an infinite regress of causes.
5. Why “Unmoved”?
- The Unmoved Mover doesn’t undergo change or motion because it is pure actuality:
- It has no potential to change—it is fully realized, complete, and perfect.
- It doesn’t need a cause because it is eternal and self-sufficient, existing outside the chain of causes.
6. Why “Mover”?
- The Unmoved Mover “moves” other things not by physical action but as a final cause—it draws other things toward it by its perfection.
- Example: Think of how a goal or ideal can “move” people to act without physically pushing them. Similarly, the Unmoved Mover causes motion and change as an ultimate source of attraction.
Aristotle’s Example: The Heavens
- Aristotle believed the stars and planets moved in perfect circles because they were drawn toward the perfection of the Unmoved Mover.
- The Unmoved Mover inspired motion by being the ultimate source of purpose and order in the universe.
Implications
- The Unmoved Mover is not a personal God like in many religious traditions but a philosophical concept of a perfect, unchanging, eternal cause of all motion and change.
- Later thinkers, such as Thomas Aquinas, adapted Aristotle’s idea of the Unmoved Mover to argue for the existence of the Christian God.