This interest lead Aristotle to suggest that there are four different types of cause or explanation of why any object exists. In modern philosophy these four types of explanation are usually called the ‘Four Causes’.
Aristotle’s Four Causes pertains to the four things that explain the cause or purpose of something, the first is called Material Cause. The Material cause relates to the cause of something in terms of the physical make-up. The Material Cause comes into existence due to its parts or materials. The explanation of causes is reduced to its parts such as factors, elements, constituents, ingredients, forming the whole. For example, a book is made of paper, therefore the matter that the book is made from is paper.
The second cause according to Aristotle is the formal cause. This cause concerns the essence or “pattern” of something. The Formal Cause simply points out to us what a thing is, that anything is identified by the form or structure. The account of causes can be gleaned from the fundamental principles or general laws being the whole as caused by its parts. For example, a book is not just any old piece of paper, but it is pieces of paper arranged in a particular way.
The third type of causation according to Aristotle is the Efficient Cause. Efficient cause explains something in terms of its starting point of change or stability. Aristotle pointed out that efficient cause is “the primary source of change”. The Efficient Cause is that from which the change or the culmination of the change was introduced and it implies to all agents of change whether nonliving or living. For example, a book exists because someone wrote it and printed it. The author of the book is the cause of the book existing rather than it just being a pile of paper.
Lastly, Aristotle describes the final cause. The Final cause explains the cause of something in terms of its conceived end, or the purpose why it is made. According to Aristotle, final cause is the end telos (purpose), that for the sake of which a thing is done. The Final Cause is that for the sake of which a thing exists or is done, its purpose and instrumental actions and activities. The final cause or telos is the end to which something must serve. For example, a book is laid out in the way it is so it is readable. The final cause is therefore teleological – it is concerned with the function of a particular object or the reason an action is done.
The four causes left Aristotle to question more and he observed that the physical world was constantly in a state of motion and change, as the planets seemed to be moving eternally. From this, Aristotle concludes that there exists something that causes the motion or change without being moved and that is eternal and he called this a prime or first mover. “There must be a mover which moves them, without being moved, eternal and a substance and actual.”
According to Aristotle the prime mover exists by necessity, i.e. not failing to exist. The prime mover is not capable of change and so Aristotle says that it is pure actuality by nature, and so its nature is good. The reason for this is the lack of goodness means you can do better, meaning you can change. Something that is pure actuality is clearly lacking some quality it should have; it is just what it should be – i.e it is good.
Aristotle argued that the Prime Mover had to be immaterial. It could not be made of any kind of stuff, because matter is capable of being acted upon, it has potential to change. Since it is immaterial, it cannot perform any kind of physical, bodily action. Therefore, Aristotle thought, the activity of the Prime Mover, God, must be purely spiritual and intellectual.
The prime mover is the Final cause for Aristotle, meaning the prime mover is the ultimate explanation of why things exist and to Aristotle, God is the prime mover – the unchanging cause of all that exists.
Aristotle states that God relates to the universe as a leader, and in the order of the universe. The prime mover cannot in any way interact or act in the world, being an eternal, transcendent and impersonal being.
In conclusion, Aristotle believes that everything is subject to cause and effect and that in the beginning, the prime mover drew everything in existence and all things strived to be like it as it is the perfect being.
