The four causes exist to answer the question of why things change and why things progress in four categories.
"we do not have knowledge of a thing until we have grasped its why, that is to say, its cause"
The material cause is the material from which the thing is made for example a book paper, table wood And a bottle glass or plastic
The formal cause is what makes something physically recognisable for example you can tell a statue is a statue because it's in the shape of a statue and tell a human is a human being because they have a body
The efficient cause of something is what makes it or brings it to being sample the efficient cause every person is their parents efficient cause of an book is the author and the efficient cause other statue is a Mason
The final cause is the end towards all things direct, it is their purpose. It is concerned with the reason why something is the way it is. It is concerned with the function of an object. For example, the point of a book being printed and bound in a certain order is so it is legible and makes sense. The final cause is teleological - it's concerned with the purpose of something. Aristotle was not saying there is a purpose of design of anything in nature, but that everything within nature is as it is for a certain reason.
Marble StatueMaterial Cause: it's made of marbleFormal Cause: it is in the shape of a statueEfficient Cause: a mason made itFinal Cause: it's function is to be beautiful/honour the person it remembers
Contextually, the word 'cause' means responsible. Aristotle used it to show how something came about.
The Concept of the Prime Mover
Aristotle observed that everything was in a constant state of movement and/or change. For example, the ever varying weather, nature changing and people growing.
Aristotle believed that all movement depended upon their being something or someone to move it. Movement means getting from A to B, changing, growing, melting, cooling etc
Aristotle, like his predecessor Heraclitus, realised everything was in a constant state of movement. He thought there must be a series of events behind the movement we see. He thought this was started by something which he said moved things without actually moving itself. He called this the Prime Mover
In his book 'Metaphysics ', Aristotle calls the Prime Mover the source of all movement. The Prime Mover is not the efficient but the final cause.
The physical world was in a constant state of motion and change.
The planets seemed to be moving eternally
Change or motion is always caused by something
Objects in the physical world were in a state of actuality and potentiality
From this, Aristotle concluded that there must exist something which causes this motion without being moved and is eternal. He reached this conclusion by realising that if something can change, and has the potential to become an 'actual' state, and one 'potential' state. For example, a cow has the potential to become a roast dinner and a pair of leather shoes; a child has the potential to become an adult etc. He realised that if something came into existence, it must have been caused by something else. This led him to ask: what is the cause of motion and change in the universe? He is not asking what knocked down the first domino, but instead what continues to sustain the motion and change in the world? He reached the conclusion that there must be a prime or first mover, who is moving them eternally.
The characteristics of the Prime Mover
According to Aristole, the Prime Mover is a necessary being - the PM could not fail to exist.
The PM is not capable of change, and so Aristole says it is pure actuality by nature: its nature is good. This is bc a lack of goodness means the PM could do better, therefore that it can change, and the PM is already perfect
The Prime Mover is the final cause: it is the ultimate explanation of why things exist
