What are Phys. VIII, 1 and Metaph. Λ, 7 about,and how are they related?

Abstract

The purpose of this purely introductory article is to briefly present the content of two famous texts by Aristotle, namely: the first chapter of Book VIII of the Physics and the seventh chapter of Book Lambda of the Metaphysics. In the first chapter of the eighth book, Aristotle aims to defend the possibility of a principle of motion, that is, he intends to demonstrate, relying on his predecessors, that motion has always been thought of as having neither beginning nor end, and is therefore eternal. The cause of this eternality of motion, as seen in his predecessors, seems problematic to him, and Book VIII will begin to discuss this until reaching an alternative that seems more suitable to Aristotle, namely, that there is a first principle of motion. In Book Lambda of the Metaphysics, Aristotle already assumes the immobility of this principle of motion, using, among other arguments, the priority of actuality over potentiality. In the brief concluding remarks, I try to outline some possible connections, or lack thereof, that can be made between these two very important texts by Aristotle.