What we have here from Feser is an analogy. As Feser's Earth is rhe necessary first cause of support, the Prime mover must likewise be the first necessary being of a chain of contingent effects, Aristotle's 'movement'. But movement is inherent in energy expressed as matter. A photon must move. A cloud of hydrogen will collapse into stars because of inherent gravity that collapses that cloud of interstellar gas. I will leave it to the reader as an exercise to extend this common place phenomenon of change in physics.
The only way to 'save' the argument is to shift from a first mover argument to a design argument, that the prime mover created hydrogen atoms to have gravity etc. But failing that, inherent qualities of matter can account for change, that is "movement" in Aristotle's extended sense of that word with no reference to a prime mover, that is, God.
This is not a new argument, nor a new reply. I have laid out a very bare boned, bumper sticker version of this here, I leave it to each of you to dress it and gussy it up as you wish. One reason this argument 'worked' in the past was that Aristotle knew very little about real physics and neither did his readers of old. We can do better.
In another context, David Hume warned us to be careful to distinguish between analogies and hard evidence. Always sound advice.
The only way to 'save' the argument is to shift from a first mover argument to a design argument, that the prime mover created hydrogen atoms to have gravity etc. But failing that, inherent qualities of matter can account for change, that is "movement" in Aristotle's extended sense of that word with no reference to a prime mover, that is, God.
This is not a new argument, nor a new reply. I have laid out a very bare boned, bumper sticker version of this here, I leave it to each of you to dress it and gussy it up as you wish. One reason this argument 'worked' in the past was that Aristotle knew very little about real physics and neither did his readers of old. We can do better.
In another context, David Hume warned us to be careful to distinguish between analogies and hard evidence. Always sound advice.
Cheerful Charlie
If I saw a man beating a tied up dog, I couldn't prove it was wrong, but I'd know it was wrong.
- Attributed to Mark Twain
If I saw a man beating a tied up dog, I couldn't prove it was wrong, but I'd know it was wrong.
- Attributed to Mark Twain
