Colloquium 2: Commentary on Meadows

In response to the paper by Professor Meadows, I argue that the analogy with a household has only a subordinate place within Aristotle’s argument and ought to be interpreted in light of his overall account of how the Prime Mover causes motion in the cosmos. When one does so one finds that there are straightforward resemblances between the cosmos as Aristotle understands it and a household (as well as an army, the other analogy Aristotle offers), and that these are sufficient to make good sense of Aristotle’s analogies.