Aristotle's Four Causes Essay Sample

Aristotle was a Greek theorist who made a substantial contribution to any characteristic of human understanding. According to Aristotle things can be seen in four diverse ways. He concluded this due to the theory of causation which made him understood that the world occurred in cause and effect state. He continues to argue that the understanding of causes explains. It's the only way one can understand something. Because of the significance of connection of understanding and knowledge he developed the complete doctrine of association differentiating efficient, material, form and final causes. Questions related to something can be answered by using Aristotle's four causes, and this helps ascertain answers such as a what a thing is made of, where it come from, what the actual thing and its purpose. The material cause is the matter, what that thing is made of for example the pots its material is clay. Without the article, nothing can happen. The material cause expresses the substance of an object, and they have the possibility of changing.

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The formal cause is the appearance in which a thing is in. Everything has their form instead of sharing their ideal type. For instance, the clay pot has its presence because it is formed of a clay pot. The kind of something is internal rather than superior (Marmodoro, Pp 15-34). Efficient cause brings specific results. For instance, the person who made the clay pot could be an efficient cause. The act of the person making the shape. This is because it makes the material of an object into a particular form. The potential is turned into the actual thing at the efficient cause. Without efficient cause, nothing can exist because its existence is caused by something. The final objective is the reason an object was made or its purpose (Stein, Pp 855-869). It's the most significant cause, and all nature has the reason for their existence. For instance, the final object of the pot is to put water or flowers. Aristotle believed that everything is done for a specific aim.

Aristotle's Four Causes of Shoes

The formal cause of shoe production is shoes. It's not its shape because it is not the actual thing that can be sketched on a piece of paper; this is because shoes are of various size, shape, and color. It is hard to draw what is common to all shoes when standing at the shoe store. Due to this one has to get the idea that the formal cause of pump is shoes. Without the precise cause, the boots cannot be manufactured. If the official reason was missing the transformation of leather which is the material cause into shoes could be hard. The shoemaker has to work on the raw material so that it can be transformed into the pump. The shoemaker is the efficient form which makes the leather to be converted into shoes. The shoemaker knows shoemaking. Without efficient cause, shoes cannot exist because its existence is caused by something. The final objective is the reason why the pump was formed. The main aim of manufacturing shoe is to help people walk. Without the purpose of making the shoes could not be built. The shape is not the formal cause of shoes because shape can be changed. The Aristotle four objects are convincing because everything can relate to each other.

Work Cited.

Marmodoro, Anna. "Potentiality in Aristotle's metaphysics." Handbook of Potentiality. Springer, Dordrecht, 2018. 15-43.

Stein, Nathanael. "Causal Necessity in Aristotle." British Journal for the History of Philosophy 20.5 (2012): 855-879.