Aristotle's Four Causes

The law of cause and effect is often considered to be the first governing principle of the universe. However, there are forces that precede this. (Forces that also precede Karma, the law of cause and effect on a moral spectrum) Longing, for example. Desire propels material life. It is the force that drives cause and effect. It represents our urges to seek as well as enjoy the pleasurable. It motivates us to avoid pain, along with our innate need to anticipate its occurrence pre-emptively.

To prevent the possible hypothetical problem of infinite regression, Aquinas believes in an unmoved mover. Based on the foundations of Aristotle’s God the unmoved mover who thinks about nothing but himself as in thinking about other things would cause movement and contradict his state of unmovement. In the same way, Aquinas adopts the same model of an unmoved god who first puts other things in motion. However, unlike Aristotle, Aquinas merely adopts the idea of contingency to postulate a non-antideity. From the bases of causation and motion we arrive at two attributes of God ‘unmoved mover’ and ‘uncaused first cause’. with motion, “nothing else than the reduction of something from potentiality to actuality” therefore cannot be simultaneously in actuality and

23.   Aristotle's concept of the "unmoved mover" or the ultimate "efficient cause" is similar to but not identical with, the later theistic concept of God seen in certain major religions.

formal cause, efficient and final causes. Aristotle seemed to be more focused on science and

The Prime Mover becomes the efficient and final causes of the universe. Its ‘action’ in the universe is passive. It exists in a state of ‘pure actuality’ incapable of change, only contemplating its own existence. This is Aristotle’s god. Things are attracted towards the perfection found within its ‘pure actuality’. This is why the Prime Mover is known as the great attractor. Objects that move from potentiality

In Metaphysics XII, Aristotle elaborates on a need for a “first mover that initiates motion without being moved” (Met. 12.7, 1072a26). This primary, or unmoved mover, he believes is the source of all motion in the universe. In this essay, I will explain his conception of such a mover. I will then elaborate on how this unmoved mover initiates motion. Finally, I will explain his rationale for believing there is such a mover.

Aristotle was one of the most important western philosophers. He was a student of Plato and the teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. I found that his biggest impacts on modern society were in the subject areas of ethics, and zoology.

In order to prevent an infinite regression of argument, Aristotle came up with the his famous idea of the "Prime Mover," which exists outside the earth somewhere in the heavens and is ultimately responsible for all change on earth.

Since the beginning of the human’s existence, there have been so many great different concepts from various philosophers that have shaped the structure, knowledge and behaviors that we still exercise in our current world. Philosophy as the fundamental nature of knowledge has contributed to the development of our thoughts and the structure of our societies. Many great philosophers left the presence of their idea implanted in our world for the rest of human life. One central leader that contributed in the philosophical views of ideas, realism and morality of life was the greatest philosopher of all time “Aristotle”. This essay will focus on two of Aristotle’s major impact on today’s society. These two great essays are, “The Politics” and “The Nicomachean Ethics”. Aristotle influenced by previous work from his professor the great philosopher Plato developed ideas of moralities, virtues and ethics of how man should best live, how can we find the truth also how can we explain the world around us. Throughout history there have been many philosophers who have tried to shape the world with their philosophical concepts to make an action a universal law of morality that gives us options to choose a freely moral or legal alternative rather than another one. The concepts revealed by Aristotle’s work have inculcated the way we actually behave and apply ethics to our everyday duties that would lead us to the supreme good “Eudaimonia” ‘Human Flourishing’, happiness. All theories

     The existence of motion to the existence of a first mover as the cause of movement, was argued by Aristotle. This first mover he called God. The reason for this was that nothing caused God to move yet God was responsible for the motion of all other things. Thisargument is based on presumptions in other cosmological arguments. The first was that something could not cause itself, second something cannot come from nothing, last there could not possibly be an infinite amount of cause and effects.

When discussing probability, a text of my previous reading came to mind. Within the lecture Physics II, much of Aristotle’s work is concerned with providing a definition for various events and subjects, and as such, identifying the types of causes for each event is an important step in accomplishing this goal. Aristotle specifically investigates the role of luck and chance as causes of change. Although we commonly speak of luck or chance as being a cause, Aristotle purposefully refrains from including them in his explanation of causes. When giving an account of our observable world, I agree with Aristotle in that there is no place for luck and chance as causes of events, yet I believe they do have a role, namely in predicting future events.

As Aristotle saw his general surroundings, he watched that things are moving and changing in certain ways. Aristotle found that specific things cause different things, which thusly bring about something else. Aristotle trusted that a boundless chain of causation was unrealistic, subsequently, a prime mover or some likeness thereof should exist as the main source of everything that progressions or moves.

This quote by Aristotle was taken from ‘Aristotle: a Very Short Introduction’ and there is no-one of whom this is more true than Aristotle as he was dedicated to every possible discipline he could sink his teeth into making him one of the utmost key figures within philosophy, not only in classical philosophy but he is still regarded as influential in modern philosophy.

truths, and forms. He had no room in his views for imagination and what he saw

Act and potency and their distinction are an important and fundamental theory in philosophy. It helps approach questions in metaphysics concerning substance, essence, and causation. In this essay, I will be using this theory of act and potency to show how the four causes and the theory relate to each other. Thus, the four causes: formal cause, material cause, efficient cause, and final cause are related to each other and can be explained through the theory and concepts of act and potency.