The 'final cause', the most important aspect of Aristotle's theory, is the theory that all objects have an ultimate reason for there existence, for example the final cause of a computer is for people to use it for research, gaming, interacting ECT. The final cause is the most important as the material, efficient and formal causes would be pointless under logical without a final cause. When we do something it is for a reason.
The Final cause is why efficient and formal causes do what they do. Why did the football break the window? The final cause explains that because the football was hard and the window was brittle, that’s why it broke. Aristotle gave the example that rocks fall because they are heavy and air is light, therefore air rises. These examples all point out the final cause of efficient cause; they explain why something happened after efficient cause explains what actually happened. To ask for the final cause of formal cause is to ask why these thi8ngs exist at all. Aristotle also said that human beings exist to make more human beings, because they are alive. They also exist to be happy because they are rational. Why do computers exist? They exist because people made them; they wanted to use them as tools in maths, business and entertainment purposes. Aristotle also gave the example that rocks exist because the wind, sea and rain break rock formations to produce rock. These things are also final causes. It is the teleology of an object which makes it perfect and real. When something does what it is designed to do or changes into something it is meant to change into then it has achieved good. This purpose in Aristotle's opinion is not only a separate cause but a part of what the object is.
According to the Philosopher, God the ultimate final cause, starting with ordinary examination, Aristotle notes that things move, and that the source of their movement is another moving object; if the main object is reliant and dependant on something else for its movement then there can never be an original efficient cause of movement itself. Kinetics in the world must be in this case eternal as they have to begin from somewhere to keep this chain affect of objects depending on other things to move; the answer to this is the Prime mover. Aristotle believed the prime mover must have been eternal, immaterial and it cannot be created as it creates. Because the Prime mover is not a material, it cannot have any physical abilities therefore Aristotle stated that all power from the Prime mover must be intellectual and spiritual.
In conclusion, the Final cause is the reason something exists and for Aristotle, the complete final cause was the Prime mover as any movement or chain effect must start from somewhere and that somewhere is God i.e. Prime love.
b) To what extent does the final cause teach us anything about the real world?
Aristotle’s final cause teaches us that the Prime mover is the complete final cause as energy must have a beginning if it exists. In the real world, humans rely on food for energy which either grows from the ground or is meat from other animals. Both sources grow by depending on other factors such as grass which is dependant on sunlight, water, warmth, nutrients ect until eventually, light cannot be justified to be dependant on another object, however it must be because it exists. The cause behind light must be the Prime Mover. This is what happens in the real world as all things link in to one another.
Wikipedia Aristotle’s Final cause
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