Traditional Religion and Its Natural Function in Aristotle

Aristotle thinks the content of traditional religion is false. However, he also holds that traditional religion is necessary if any city is to exist and flourish. Traditional religion is necessary, I argue, because it prepares the ground for what Aristotle considers the pinnacle of human endeavor: attaining knowledge of first philosophy. Religion performs this function by exposing citizens to anthropomorphic depictions of divinity. These, in turn, generate in the citizens with the right potential the sense of "wonder" at divinity that guides them from such mythological conceptions to an inquiry into the nature of the true god(s) of Aristotle's Metaphysics.