four causes

Plato

scientific organization

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

occupation / innovator as

university teacher

philosopher

philosophy historian

nationality

British

is simply four different sorts of explanatory factor that ought to have better been called the four becauses since they are concerned to distinguish, not the different varieties of cause and effect, but rather the different senses in which the question 'Why?' can be asked.

Aristotle... distinguished four sorts of explanatory factor... and in later centuries these came to be known as his 'four causes'. The name is unfortunate, since nowadays we usually restrict the term 'cause' to one of his four types... they would have been better called his 'four becauses'—since he was concerned to distinguish, not the different varieties of cause and effect, but rather the different senses in which the question 'Why?' can be asked... [W]e could give four different answers, whose relevance would depend on our precise interpretation of the question. We could refer to: (i) The material constitution... or 'From what?'... (ii) The form, essence, or 'What was it?'... (iii) The precipitating cause or 'By What?'... (iv) The end [destination or purpose], or 'In aid of what?'... These four types of explanation are not necessarily rivals. ...all four types can frequently be cited without inconsistency. Indeed, apart from a few phenomena... which have no function and so 'just happen', Aristotle thought all natural events called for explanation in all four ways.

is simply four different ways of asking the question ‘why’. One can ask about (1) The material constitution (From what?) (2) The form (What was it?).. (3) The precipitating cause (By What?) and (4) The purpose (In aid of what?).

wove together separate threads from three earlier philosophers creating a higher synergy: the mathematics of Pythagoras, the atomism of Demokritos, and the four elements of Empedokles.

Plato wove together separate threads from three earlier philosophers: the mathematics of Pythagoras, the atomism of Demokritos, and the four elements of Empedokles. As happens with the best scientific syntheses, the resulting theory transformed the components from which it started, and was intellectually more powerful than any of them. For these geometrical atoms differed from those of Demokritos in having a limited number of definite shapes, governed by precise mathematical theorems; and furthermore, they were no longer immutable, but could change into one another in ways that could be related back to their geometrical compositions. As a result, Plato could envisage transmutations of a kind that Demokritos did not allow for, and so introduced a new, quantitative element into the analysis of material change. ...For the regular solids can all be built up from two simple triangles... the fundamental elements of his theory.

Stephen Toulmin

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Stephen Toulmin