On the concept of cause in relation to the Principle. Aristotle and Spinoza on their way to God

Abstract

This contribution attempts to articulate a critical comparison on the concept of causality between Aristotle and Spinoza. By examining the themes of the immobile mover and the causa sui, the purpose of the text is to consider how these two speculative approaches relate to the central question of the Principle, of God. and articulated in its substance, the essay limits itself to analyzing the Aristotelian argumentation of book XII of Metaphysics and the articulation of thought expounded by Spinoza in the first part of his Ethics. The study is thus limited to these precise textual references, constantly referring to the philosophical commitment to clarify the progress of the investigation adopted by the Stagirite and the Dutch philosopher. While the first proposes a demonstration of the existence of the first cause of reality, in order to explain its movement, the second reflects on the divine Substance, in the last resort, to consider it in and of itself as the cause of itself. In these two different meanings of causality reverberates the problem that we would like to highlight here, namely the need to identify a philosophically meaningful path to speak of the Principle in an authentic and fundamental way.