"explanatory conditions & factors"
4 causes
| Causal matrix | surface | underlying |
| formal | final, or teleological | |
| material | efficient |
formal
• What is a characteristic of real things?
• the apparent property or external quality displayed;
• an actual shape, texture, extension, hue, appearance.
• A pattern taken or given by things in our sensory experience.
• quartz crystals have a geometrical shape
• water molecules have an hexagonal appearance
• marble has a sinuous quality
material
• form and matter exist concurrently in all things
• marble in the statue of Michelangelo's "David."
• matter represents the unchanging consistency beneath the changing form.
i.e.
• caterpillars metamorphosize into a butterflies
• crabs molt and shed their shells (carapace)
• snakes shed their skin
• tadpoles develop into frogs
• warmth & moisture
efficient
that which moves matter and form to undergo visible changes:
• the sculptor of a statue or creator of an art work
• cold air that turns the leaves of deciduous trees from green
• molten lava that cools into igneous rock
• rain water forming carbonic acid that breaks down rocks
• hormones that release eggs from a mammal's ovaries
• elements that remain behind after the alteration are
clues
final, or teleology
• purpose
• orderly universe, with ordered certainty
• things develop toward ends detrmined by their natures
• apprehendable by human reason (experience & rationality)
• sensible qualites are the building blocks of reality
whose purpose is to strive to attain the "good" or optimal character
• the all pervading character of the unstable conditions
4 causes | formal | material | efficient | teleology
