Aristotle and the Divine

was in its infancy, so we will give Aristotle appropriate credit for what he did get right.

Aristotle at least understood the concept [per Birnbaum] of some realm completely separate, eternal all-encompassing that came before the physical universe. He was the first to have insight into the concept of an eternal dynamic at play in the universe. What he lacked was why our universe came into being. For that, he would have needed a motivator – a prime mover that would drive change.

Unfortunately, as much as Aristotle did for metaphysics, it was his stumble here that would cause cosmologists to shy from metaphysics and try to go it alone explaining the universe. For Aristotle, lacking the driving force of Q4P, instead mistakenly attributed as the prime mover the gods themselves. This metaphysical “tap out” would be used as an excuse in the 20th century to try and remove metaphysics from cosmology altogether. It would take millennia before Birnbaum could pick up the metaphysics baton where Aristotle went astray and fix Metaphysica.

Aristotle and the Divine

Aristotle set forth 'the Divine' as being the Primum Movens (i.e., the Prime Mover). The problem, cosmologically, is that this line 230

is subject to ongoing and broad-based challenges. In particular, this position attracts ongoing challenges on multiple key fronts, including:

THEOGONY - Where did this Prime Mover divine come from?

THEODICY - Why does this all-knowing, all-powerful divine being tolerate and let gross evil occur?

Thus, although Birnbaum mounts whatever may very well be the optimal defense of monotheism in his first book God and Evil, he is not oblivious to the vulnerability.

Birnbaum's first book is, indeed, God and Evil (1988). Though later in Volume II (2005), Volume III (2014) and Volume IV (2020) he de-links his Metaphysics Theory from classic God. Thus, Birnbaum’s Metaphysics remain bullet-proof and beyond reproach.

Birnbaum neither challenges nor ignore God, he simply de-links his metaphysics from classic God. Birnbaum himself is closely affiliated-with, and identified-with, Modern Orthodox Judaism on a personal level. He and his multi-generational nuclear family are all members of Modern Orthodox synagogues. In addition, Birnbaum is the Editor-in-Chief of the iconic ten volume, 150+ essayists Mesorah Matrix series (www.MesorahMatrix.com).

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Birnbaum's Primum Movens, however, is POTENTIAL. And, indeed, Birnbaum unleashes the potential of POTENTIAL to be the core and spirit of his extraordinary Potentialism Metaphysics.

Eternal Potential does not suffer the same vulnerabilities – be they weak or strong vis a' vis theogony or theodicy - as Aristotle’s Primum Movens, the Divine does.

Thus, Birnbaum respects the Divine; but, unlike Aristotle, does not craft his sophisticated and elaborate Metaphysics edifice around it. In fact, Birnbaum often remarks that Aristotle - and his fellow Greek philosophers - would be stalwart fans of Summa theory. After a 350-year hiatus (since Spinoza), Metaphysics is Back; rescued almost single-handedly from the dead by Birnbaum. That was a key plank of the historic Bard Conference on Summa (see www.Conferrence1000.com) in 2012.

We’ll explore the subject of the nature of Birnbaum’s Primum Movens, or Birnbaum's God of Potential, in more detail in the religion section.

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