The Four Causes Aristotle

Aristotle was the first philosopher to understand that not all “why”, questions can be answered the same way, because their is more than one kind of why. Instead of a single explanation, Aristotle distinguished among four different kinds of explanations, that, together constitute a complete understanding of a thing, he referred to them as causes.

The Greek word for cause, aitia, meant “the reason for something happening”. According to Aristotle, complete understanding of a thing must tell us what material the thing is made of, what form the thing takes, what triggered the events that set the things´ existence into motion and the ultimate purpose for which the thing exists.

Aristotle´s four causes are offered as accounts of: 1. The material the thing is made of (Material Cause). 2. The form the thing takes (Formal Cause) 3. The triggering action or motion that begins the thing (Efficient Cause) 4. The ultimate purpose or goal for which the thing exists (Final Cause)

After describing the four causes Aristotle says that it is the business of a natural scientists to know about them all, and to answer to the question “Why”. The Material Cause The material cause of a thing refers to the material (substance) from which the thing comes and in which change occurs. Aristotle points out that merely idenntifying the material out of which, say, a bed or statue does not tell us how and why that bed or statue exists.

In other words, statues and beds are made of many different things, and some bronze and wood never become statues and beds, identifying a thing´s matter is a necessary part of, but not a complete accounting for that thing, lets point out that knowing the thing´s matter is not a complete understanding of the “how” and “why”, of a thing. After all is not the nature of wood to become a bed, or the nature of bronze to become a statue.

Formal Cause Until wood is fashioned into some particular thing, a bed or a table it is potencially but not actually a bed or a table. Wood needs to be formed into beds or tables and other crafted objects, it is not just wood (matter) that makes a bed or table, but the form the wood takes, therefore in addition to identifying the material cause of a thing, we need to know its Formal Cause, the shape, or form, into which matter is changed.

Together the Material and Formal Causes of a thing tell us what stuff it is composed of and how that stuff is formed, in other words, Material and Formal Causes combine to describe a particular unit of “formed matter” Efficient Cause But what explains why this bed or statue exists? What accounts for the potencially “formed matter? What starts the whole process? What gets it going? Aristotle named all this questions the triggering cause or Efficient Cause, which is what initiates activity, the substance by which change is brought about

Final Cause The Final Cause is that for which an activity or process takes place; a thing´s very reason for being. In other words the reason, purpose, goal or end that an object has to exist. Another term for final cause is end, not the ending but the very reason for being.