1 Aristotle on God as Creator Michael Pakaluk Meeting of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas, June 2017, Vatican City Draft. Communication to: pakaluk@cua.edu In this brief presentation: (1) I ǁill ƌelate Aƌistotle’s philosophy to the intentions of the Holy Father in Laudato Si’; (2) I will discuss whether there is a doctrine of creation in Aristotle; and (3) I will say soŵethiŶg aďout God’s pƌoǀideŶĐe over particulars in Aristotle. Aƌistotle’s philosophLJ iŶ ƌelatioŶ to the HolLJ Fatheƌ’s iŶteŶtioŶs iŶ Laudato Si’. In n. ϮϭϬ of that eŶĐLJĐliĐal, the HolLJ Fatheƌ speaks of the Ŷeed foƌ eŶǀiƌoŶŵeŶtal eduĐatioŶ, ǁhiĐh he describes as having three steps. The first step is to present people with scientific information. The second is to criticize ǀaƌious ŵLJths, suĐh as the ŵLJths of individualism, consumerism, and the invariable beneficence of unregulated markets. But the third and deepest step involves imparting aŶ eŶǀiƌoŶŵeŶtal ethiĐs, embedded in a sound culture, having a good aesthetic dimension. The Holy Father adds: La educación ambiental debería disponernos a dar ese salto hacia el Misterio, desde donde una ética ecológica adquiere su sentido más hondo. Environmental education should facilitate making the leap towards the transcendent which gives ecological ethics its deepest meaning.n.210 I was struck when reading n. 210 how appropriately these three steps of education correspond to the three Pontifical Academies: to the Scientific Academy, the presentation of scientific information; to the AcadeŵLJ of “oĐial “ĐieŶĐe, the ĐƌitiƋue of ŵLJths; ďut to the AĐadeŵLJ of “t. Thoŵas, the deepest level of environmental education, that is, the presentation of a culture and philosophy which can facilitate the leap towards the transcendent (ese salto hacia el Misterio). Laudato Si’ clearly does not regard it as satisfactory that environmental ethics should be left ungrounded, like the pragmatism of a John Rawls. Rather, it rests on principles, as on foundations. So, for example, when the encyclical repeatedly emphasizes that eǀeƌLJthiŶg is ĐoŶŶeĐted ǁith eǀeƌLJthiŶg (nn. 16, 70, 91, 92, 117, 120, 137, 138, 142, 240), it is not saLJiŶg that ǁe should aĐt as if eǀeƌLJthiŶg is interconnected, but rather we should recognize that things really are so, and therefore we should act accordingly. But of course the Đlaiŵ that all thiŶgs aƌe iŶteƌĐoŶŶeĐted is Ŷot a truth of natural science. After all, statistically significant correlations among variables are the exception in science, not the rule— otherwise discoveries would be trivial. Yet the claim has been held to be true on metaphysical grounds, as for example by Aristotle in Metaphysics Lambda: ʋάʆʏα ɷὲ σʐʆʏέʏαʃʏαί ʋʘς, ἀʄʄ᾽ οὐʖ ὁʅοίʘς, ʃαὶ ʋʄʘʏὰ ʃαὶ ʋʏɻʆὰ ʃαὶ φʐʏά: ʃαὶ οὐʖ οὕʏʘς ἔʖɸι ὥσʏɸ ʅὴ ɸἶʆαι θαʏέʌῳ ʋʌὸς θάʏɸʌοʆ ʅɻɷέʆ, ἀʄʄ᾽ All things are ordered together somehow… aŶd things are not such that one thing has nothing to do with another, but there is a connection. For all