# Aristotle's Causation (Final Cause)



## Claudiu (Aug 2, 2011)

I was wondering how compatible Aristotle's four causes (Material, Formal, Efficient, and Final) are with the Christian view of the world. More specifically, I'm thinking about the Final Cause. Aquinas might have something to say on this but I haven't read his works yet.


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## Prufrock (Aug 2, 2011)

Claudiu, They are perfectly compatible. Bear in mind these "causes" are not an attempt at some complete, metaphysical accounting for the how and the why of something. Rather, they are simply four (there are other "causes," too) ways of logically accounting for what we mean when we describe something. To speak of the final cause of something is simply to speak of the purpose for which something is down: e.g., I ate the food to satiate my hunger, and so the final cause of dinner is satisfying hunger. These terms are not associated with any particular form of metaphysics, but are simply logical/rhetorical descriptors which can be useful for describing anything from its different angles.


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## Claudiu (Aug 5, 2011)

Thanks Paul. I was thinking of the final cause at a metaphysical level. Aristotle presents the causes in his _Physics_. I don't know if he introduces them again in his _Metaphysics_ though.


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