A REVISED ARISTOTELIAN THEOLOGY. THEMISTIUS ON THE SOUL OF THE HEAVENS AND THE MOVEMENT OF THE HEAVENLY BODIES

One of the most debated questions about the De Caelo is that of the theological position held by Aristotle in this treatise. The main problems revolve around the kind of causality (if any) the Unmoved Mover is to be credited with, as well as around the nature of celestial motion. Also the consistency of the De Caelo with other Aristotelian works containing theological assessments gives room for doubt: to mention only the main point, the theory of the Unmoved Mover dealt with in Book Lambda of the Metaphysics plays almost no role in the De Caelo. The difficulty to reach a consistent picture has been repeatedly acknowledged in scholarship. A predictably different attitude was that of the ancient commentators, who made much effort to solve the difficulties and inconsistencies in Aristotle’s theology, emphasizing as much as possible the agreement of the De Caelo with the Physics and Metaphysics. In this paper I will take into account one of the ancient commentaries on the De Caelo, penned by Themistius (c. 317-387 CE). We shall see that Themistius conceives of the heavens as ensouled, and explains the movements of the heavenly bodies as caused by their souls’ desire to imitate the immobility of the First Cause: God. It will also appear that Themistius managed to make the De Caelo completely agree with the Metaphysics. He did so in his paraphrase of Book Lambda.