Four Types of Explanation

1. Four Types of Explanation -Aristotle By: Andrew Fernandez Marlon Baker

2. Main Argument of Aristotle • “It is plain then, that nature is a cause, a cause that operates for a purpose” (415). • Aristotle explains how things come about, such as that in nature, and argues that these are the four ‘causes’ in which things come about. • Material Cause • Formal Cause • Efficient Cause • Final Cause

3. Explanation of ‘Causes’ • Material Cause- that out of which a thing comes to be (414). (wood is the cause of a table) • Formal Cause- The form or original pattern is a cause (414). (The shape of a thing) • Efficient Cause- The primary source of something’s changing (414). (the father is the cause of the child)

4. Cont’d • Final Cause- the end, or that for the sake of which something is cone is a cause (414). (Health is the cause of walk)

5. Objections • “ It is absurd to suppose that the purpose is not present because we do not observe the agent deliberate” (415). • Interpretation: There is a purpose in everything, and if we do not find one then it is because we didn’t look hard enough. • Nihilism: The Philosophical doctrine that argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.

6. Cont’d • It is said to be that Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi first introduced the term. • Nihilism basically argues the opposite of Aristotle’s way of thinking, in the sense that Nihilism is a way of thinking that there is no purpose for anything, whereas Aristotle argues that everything has a ‘cause’ so therefore everything has a purpose. German Philosopher 1973-1819

7. Alternative • Alternate way of thinking is that maybe not quite everything serves a purpose in life • Example: Complaing serves no purpose in life whereas action does • Interpretation: Complaining gets you nowhere until you take action in an effort to make a difference towards whatever it is that you are complaining about.