El aporte de Homero a la tesis del primer motor inmóvil

Abstract

At the end of his reasoning concerning the first unmoved mover, Aristotle closes Metaph. XII with a quotation from Iliad: “Many commanders bad, one should be commander”, whose purpose in this context is usually understood as the pursuit of an emotional effect in the audience. Through an analysis of the content of this and other several Homeric quotations (used in astrophysical and theological contexts in the corpus), and of some remarks concerning the different ways of reasoning Aristotle brings forth in Metaph., I will try to show that this particular use of Homeric poetry –although it may be included among rethorical uses, in general– does not appeal to emotions but to the rationality of the whole argument concerning the arkhé.