L24-205_ Aristotle on Causes

Four causes Opposites as logical, not physical principles: another way to approach systematicity. With things, Plato is not correct on asserting that things come from their opposites, but only that it is the acquisition or loss of an attribute. Note the immediate role of Categories in this fundamental correction. A SUBSTANCE acquires a QUALITY (or possession). This shifts the fundamental notion of cause (Vlastos: in Phaedo, the issue is not cause but because, and this applies equally to the physical and the moral. IF MIND is cause of all, it is BECAUSE the mind judges it to be BEST. SUBSTANCE + ATTRIBUTE as acquisition. Then add treatment of physical attributes  cause as coming to be: how did X come to be as it is?

Having a NATURE First, the underlying thing (material) plus acquisition of attributes (form). In words: the ‘nature’ of a thing can thus be taken as either material or form BUT Things in nature come to be. They are not given in toto. Something had to effect the transformation. Quickly: FOUR CAUSES. Material: out of what? Formal: into what eidos or shape? Efficient: what provided/guided the work? Final: purpose IN NATURE: Antipho’s BED. There has to be an internal principle by which a bed made of OAK, if it germinates, will produce an OAK TREE, not another BED.

Nature or Art (techne) Recall Plato’s ‘shabby etymology’: art as possession of mind. The transparent difference is that things having a nature have some undisclosed inner principle that both manages the process of coming to be, and the capacity to remain the same. But as Plato starts his double divided line with the visible, Aristotle starts with instances in which coming to be is visible, if not transparent. Building a ship or a house: Here the schema works perfectly: Wood, bricks, glass: the material Construction: the form Efficient: (both the architect and the carpenters) Final: the purpose or END: for benefit: the house is formed this way because it provides shelter and protection for the inhabitants: see next slide Boat: it has this form as the condition without which it could not transport anything across water.

The core problem The symmetry of the model for things made by art is perfectly intelligible, but there is no direct pathway to things made by nature. Note here that the structure of Plato’s diaresis of productive arts (Poesis) in Sophist, starts exactly right: The top division, is things made by the divine (NATURE). Everything below it is made by humans (ART). If we leap too quickly, we drastically miss the point. For any NATURE. (One cannot go the other way. Consider why) Briefly: in Nature we see neither the visible operation of efficient cause NOR the manifestation of TELOS or final cause. WHAT IS THIS FOR? Crude teleological arguments don’t even take a wily sophist like Socrates to penetrate: Why do people have shoulders? So their cloaks will hang straight. OR: why is there grain? So that People can be fed. –Why is there rain? So the grain will grow. Notice that these crude arguments make up, still, a large share of common beliefs.

The triumph of Physics II,8 The transition for that for the sake of which to that for the benefit of which. Anything which has an END (i.e., a process by which one comes to a conclusion), TELOS is first evident in sequence. One step is taken for the sake of the step which follows: House: The footings for the sake of the foundation for the sake of the floor joists for the sake of the floor boards for the sake of the walls for the sake of the ceiling for the sake of the ROOF  you are done. END NOW the WHOLE: for the BENEFIT of the inhabitants.

Essential / accidental One of the puzzles in the study of Aristotle: where does this distinction come from? It seems to emerge from everywhere. But here, we can see a ground: the essential is that which is necessary for a complete articulated FORM. Leave out any step, and you do not get a HOUSE. But after that, you can decorate it however you want. There is more, obviously, but this will get you on track. The main implication: TECHNE (which is presence of mind) is inextricably involved with the EFFICIENT CAUSE. What builds the house? Not the agents of the architect (carpenters), but the ART of house building. Where is Aristotle going? By what means can we find the ART of nature. If you are still hung up on Plato’s semiotics (i.e. words have meanings, the written language is mimesis of speech (imitation), the Original is a thing, and the representation is an imitation at one, two or three removes), you will NEVER get the relation straight. You will come right up to the edge of an explanation—only to gaze into the depths of a paradox or infinite regression. MONDAY: Meaning and Mediation.