side from eternity. It does not create matter, but only ar-
ranges it. “All things were together,” says Anaxagoras, “in-
finitely numerous, infinitely little; then came the Nous and
set them in order.” In this Anaxagoras showed a sound
logical sense. He based his idea of the existence of Nous
upon the design which exhibits itself in the world. In mod-
ern times the existence of design in the world has been
made the foundation of an argument for the existence of
God, which is known as the teleological argument. The
word teleology means the view of things as adapting means
towards purposive ends. To see intelligent design in the
universe is to view the universe teleologically. And the
teleological argument for the existence of God asserts that,
as there is evidence of purpose in nature, this must be due
to an intelligent cause. But, as a matter of fact, taken by
itself, teleology cannot possibly be made the basis of an
argument for the existence of a world-creating intelligence,
but only for the existence of a world-designing {102} intel-
ligence. If you find in the desert the ruins of ancient cities
and temples, you are entitled to conclude therefrom, that
there existed a mind which designed these cities and build-
ings, and which arranged matter in that purposive way, but
you are not entitled to conclude that the mind which de-
signed the cities also created the matter out of which they
were made. Anaxagoras was, therefore, in that sense quite
right. Teleology is not evidence of a world-creating mind,
and if we are to prove that, we must have recourse to other
lines of reasoning.
In the beginning, then, there was a chaotic mixture of dif-
ferent kinds of matter. The Nous produced a vortex at one
point in the middle of this mass. This vortex spread itself
outwards in the mass of matter, like rings caused by the
fall of a stone in water. It goes on for ever and continu-
ally draws more and more matter out of the infinite mass
into itself. The movement, therefore, is never-ending. It
causes like kinds of matter to come together with like, gold
to gold, wood to wood, water to water, and so on. It is
to be noted, therefore, that the action of the Nous is ap-
parently confined to the first movement. It acts only at
the one central point, and every subsequent movement is
caused by the vortex itself, which draws in more and more
of the surrounding matter into itself. First are separated
out the warm, dry, and light particles, and these form the
aether or upper air. Next come the cold, moist, dark, and
dense particles which form the lower air. Rotation takes
the latter towards the centre, and out of this the earth
is formed. The earth, as with Anaximenes, is a flat disc,
borne upon the air. The heavenly bodies consist of {103}
masses of stone which have been torn from the earth by the
force of its rotation, and being projected outwards become
incandescent through the rapidity of their movement. The
moon is made of earth and reflects the light of the sun.
Anaxagoras was thus the first to give the true cause of the
moon’s light. He was also the first to discover the true
theory of eclipses, since he taught that the solar eclipse is
due to the intervention of the moon between the sun and
the earth, and that lunar eclipses arise from the shadow of
the earth falling upon the moon. He believed that there
are other worlds besides our own with their own suns and
moons. These worlds are inhabited. The sun, according
to Anaxagoras, is many times as large as the Peloponnese.