Explain Aristotle's idea of the four causes.

In the example of a clay pot the formal cause would be the pot, a hole with a base. This is the form of the object; a clay pot has certain characteristics to make it a clay pot. If you are asking what are it’s characteristics then you are talking about the formal cause.

The efficient cause is the thing that happens to bring about certain results. For instance in my example of a clay pot it would be the person who gas made the clay pot, the act of the person forming the shape of their clay pot.  This is the cause that brings the substance of the object into a particular form. In the efficient cause “potentiality” is turned into “actuality” the person sees the potentiality of the clay and actualises it by making it into a clay pot. The efficient cause connects the material cause to the formal cause.  

Lastly there is the final cause. Aristotle believed this to be the most important. He believed that all objects have an ultimate reason for their existence. The purpose of an object is part of the object itself. The clay pot’s final cause is to put flowers in or to store water, Aristotle pointed out there can be many final causes. “You cannot remove an arrow from its straightness” here Aristotle was saying that its purpose is already there is intrinsic. The question to ask when discussing the final cause is, what is it for?

Aristotle also said that the final cause for everything in the universe is the “prime mover” or the “first cause”.  Aristotle argued that man’s ultimate purpose is to love and desire God, the prime mover. The prime mover was explained as being unmoved and separate; he was eternal and a passive being. “There must be a mover which moves them without being moved eternal and a substance and actual.” For this reason Aristotle thought God to be a Deistic God. Aristotle came to the conclusion that everything in the universe was attracted to the prime mover.