Concept
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Four causes
Concept · 1 reading
The four causes answer different questions: about material, form, a source of change and an end. They are explanatory roles, not four successive events.
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Guided course · Module 5 · Lesson 23
What counts as explaining something?
Aristotle’s four causes answer different questions about one thing. A cup and a growing plant test what matter, form and an end can explain, including an end that no one consciously intends.