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In another sense (2) the form or the archetype, i.e. the statement of the
essence, and its genera, are called ‘causes’ (e.g. of the octave the relation of
2:1, and generally number), and the parts in the definition.
Again (3) the primary source of the change or coming to rest; e.g. the man
who gave advice is a cause, the father is cause of the child, and generally
what makes of what is made and what causes change of what is changed.
Again (4) in the sense of end or ‘that for the sake of which’ a thing is done,
e.g. health is the cause of walking about. (’Why is he walking about?’ we say.
‘To be healthy’, and, having said that, we think we have assigned the cause.)
The same is true also of all the intermediate steps which are brought about
through the action of something else as means towards the end, e.g. reduction
of flesh, purging, drugs, or surgical instruments are means towards health. All
these things are ‘for the sake of’ the end, though they differ from one another
in that some are activities, others instruments.
This then perhaps exhausts the number of ways in which the term ‘cause’ is
used.
As the word has several senses, it follows that there are several causes of
the same thing not merely in virtue of a concomitant attribute), e.g. both the
art of the sculptor and the bronze are causes of the statue. These are causes of
the statue qua statue, not in virtue of anything else that it may be-only not in
the same way, the one being the material cause, the other the cause whence
the motion comes. Some things cause each other reciprocally, e.g. hard work
causes fitness and vice versa, but again not in the same way, but the one as
end, the other as the origin of change. Further the same thing is the cause of
contrary results. For that which by its presence brings about one result is
sometimes blamed for bringing about the contrary by its absence. Thus we
ascribe the wreck of a ship to the absence of the pilot whose presence was the
cause of its safety.
All the causes now mentioned fall into four familiar divisions. The letters
are the causes of syllables, the material of artificial products, fire, &c., of
bodies, the parts of the whole, and the premisses of the conclusion, in the
sense of ‘that from which’. Of these pairs the one set are causes in the sense
of substratum, e.g. the parts, the other set in the sense of essence-the whole
and the combination and the form. But the seed and the doctor and the
adviser, and generally the maker, are all sources whence the change or
stationariness originates, while the others are causes in the sense of the end or
the good of the rest; for ‘that for the sake of which’ means what is best and
the end of the things that lead up to it. (Whether we say the ‘good itself or the
‘apparent good’ makes no difference.)
420
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book The Complete Aristotle"
The Complete Aristotle
- Title
- The Complete Aristotle
- Author
- Aristotle
- Date
- ~322 B.C.
- Language
- English
- License
- PD
- Size
- 21.0 x 29.7 cm
- Pages
- 2328
- Keywords
- Philosophy, Antique, Philosophie, Antike, Dialogues, Metaphysik, Metaphysics, Ideologie, Ideology, Englisch
- Categories
- Geisteswissenschaften
- International
Table of contents
- Part 1; Logic (Organon) 3
- Categories 4
- On Interpretation 34
- Prior Analytics, Book I 56
- Prior Analytics, Book II 113
- Posterior Analytics, Book I 149
- Posterior Analytics, Book II 193
- Topics, Book I 218
- Topics, Book II 221
- Topics, Book III 237
- Topics, Book IV 248
- Topics, Book V 266
- Topics, Book VI 291
- Topics, Book VII 317
- Topics, Book VIII 326
- On Sophistical Refutations 348
- Part 2; Universal Physics 396
- Physics, Book I 397
- Physics, Book II 415
- Physics, Book III 432
- Physics, Book IV 449
- Physics, Book V 481
- Physics, Book VI 496
- Physics, Book VII 519
- Physics, Book VIII 533
- On the Heavens, Book I 570
- On the Heavens, Book II 599
- On the Heavens, Book III 624
- On the Heavens, Book IV 640
- On Generation and Corruption, Book I 651
- On Generation and Corruption, Book II 685
- Meteorology, Book I 707
- Meteorology, Book II 733
- Meteorology, Book III 760
- Meteorology, Book IV 773
- Part 3; Human Physics 795
- On the Soul, Book I 796
- On the Soul, Book II 815
- On the Soul, Book III 840
- On Sense and the Sensible 861
- On Memory and Reminiscence 889
- On Sleep and Sleeplessness 899
- On Dreams 909
- On Prophesying by Dreams 918
- On Longevity and the Shortness of Life 923
- On Youth, Old Age, Life and Death, and Respiration 929
- Part 4; Animal Physics 952
- The History of Animals, Book I 953
- The History of Animals, Book II translated 977
- The History of Animals, Book III 1000
- The History of Animals, Book IV 1029
- The History of Animals, Book V 1056
- The History of Animals, Book VI 1094
- The History of Animals, Book VII 1135
- The History of Animals, Book VIII 1150
- The History of Animals, Book IX 1186
- On the Parts of Animals, Book I 1234
- On the Parts of Animals, Book II 1249
- On the Parts of Animals, Book III 1281
- On the Parts of Animals, Book IV 1311
- On the Motion of Animals 1351
- On the Gait of Animals 1363
- On the Generation of Animals, Book I 1381
- On the Generation of Animals, Book II 1412
- On the Generation of Animals, Book III 1444
- On the Generation of Animals, Book IV 1469
- On the Generation of Animals, Book V 1496
- Part 5; Metaphysics 1516
- Part 6; Ethics and Politics 1748
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book I 1749
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book II 1766
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book III 1779
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IV 1799
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book V 1817
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VI 1836
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VII 1851
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII 1872
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book IX 1890
- Nicomachean Ethics, Book X 1907
- Politics, Book I 1925
- Politics, Book II 1943
- Politics, Book III 1970
- Politics, Book IV 1997
- Politics, Book V 2023
- Politics, Book VI 2053
- Politics, Book VII 2065
- Politics, Book VIII 2091
- The Athenian Constitution 2102
- Part 7; Aesthetic Writings 2156