It is the teleology of an object which makes it perfect and real. When something does what it is designed to do or developed into something it is meant to develop into then it has achieved goodness. This purpose in Aristotle’s opinion is not only a separate cause but a part of what the object is.
Dissimilar to his teacher Plato, Aristotle believed in only one world, the natural world, and not any separate supernatural realm. However, Aristotle's idea of nature was more 'supernatural' than modern ideas have a tendency to be.
God the ultimate final cause, starting with ordinary examination, Aristotle notes that things move, and that the source of their movement is some other moving thing. If what efficiently causes to move is always some other thing, then there can never be an original efficient cause of movement itself.
Movement in the world must be undying. However there must be some reason why there is movement at all. If not an efficient cause, this reason must be a final cause. And since the movement in question is eternal, its final cause must be eternal. So there must be an eternal cause of all movement. This is called the ‘Prime mover’.
Finally, Aristotle believed the Prime Mover must have been immaterial; it could not be created as matter is able to be acted upon, it has potential to change. As it is immaterial it cannot perform any kind of physical action. Therefore Aristotle believed the activity of the prime mover, God, must be purely spiritual and intellectual. The final cause is the reason something, or someone exists.
b) ‘Aristotle was wrong to imagine that everything has a purpose’ Discuss.
We cannot actually say if Aristotle was accurate in his theory or not as we do not know, however there is evidence to support the idea that everything has a purpose. For example, if we all believed we have no purpose then we may as well just never exist. People would have no morals and not have to live there life for any reason. If there is no purpose, God would be insignificant.
Aristotle doesn’t make it clear if purpose applies generally to humans or objects or to each individual. This could mean some of us have a purpose and others do not, as will some animals and some trees. This would support the idea that everything has a purpose as the objects without a purpose may as well never exist.
Aristotle’s theory, however, is that the body and soul are one entity therefore death is the end of that form so the purpose for that individual must be fulfilled in life. There will be no other chance for the form to fulfil its purpose.
Plato also offers more reasons behind us having a purpose and a more convincing purpose to humanity, as he suggests we leave out body and return to the realm of forms after death when we can fulfil our purpose. We would still need a purpose to have a reason to exist.
The French writer Albert Camus, for example, described the universe as ‘absurd’, and Sartre said that is was ‘gratuitous’; they thought it was ridiculous to believe the universe had a purpose. I believe we have a purpose on earth, although we do not know our purpose it will be revealed when we die. If we have fulfilled that purpose we will find out then.
It is possible that everything happened by chance, but it is not likely. What is the chance that humans came to be on the earth instead of any of the other billions of planets? The chance the earth would be the correct distance from the sun, having the correct amount of oxygen and plant life for us to live. We could argue this has occurred through evolution although there is more evidence we were put here. Therefore the earth must have a purpose, which is to allow humans to live.
