Causes Of Aristotle's Bronze Montague
Aristotle (384-322BC) was a pupil of Plato who rejected many of his teacher’s theories and ideas, including the Theory of the Forms and dualism. Instead, Aristotle was a materialist, believing the body and soul are not separate, as well as being an empiricist, concerned with the world of experience and senses (the world around us). As part of his ideas, Aristotle said that everything must be caused by something else and eventually moves from it’s potentiality to it’s actuality.
In saying that everything is caused by something else, Aristotle could be interpreted as saying that there is a possibly infinite chain of cause and effect. He understood the world as being constantly changing and a chain of “causers” allowing this to occur. Aristotle …show more content…
The material cause of this is the bronze, whilst the formal cause is it being melted and poured to form the new shape. The efficient cause is the bronze-casting of the statue, rather than the individual artisan - Aristotle said that the artisan just had the knowledge to make it, so the art itself is the efficient cause. The final cause for the statue was to be put into the Temple. Through this example, it is easy to see that all the stages are in aid of the purpose of the statue, showing that Aristotle’s theory was teleological. The example makes the four causes efficient in explaining the world as almost every object can be explained and it reflects easily on the world …show more content…
This means the four causes and the Theory of the Forms can be easily compared in their effectiveness of explaining the world. Plato said in his Theory of the Forms that there were two worlds and that the forms were eternal and unchanging, which is difficult to prove as true. In comparison, Aristotle’s theories of causation say that everything is constantly changing and focuses heavily on the world we already know, which is easier to prove and more realistic in explaining the world. Plato was also a rationalist and didn’t trust the senses, whereas Aristotle’s belief in empiricism meant he could rely on what he observed, again making it more reliable and easy to
In saying that everything is caused by something else, Aristotle could be interpreted as saying that there is a possibly infinite chain of cause and effect. He understood the world as being constantly changing and a chain of “causers” allowing this to occur. Aristotle …show more content…
The material cause of this is the bronze, whilst the formal cause is it being melted and poured to form the new shape. The efficient cause is the bronze-casting of the statue, rather than the individual artisan - Aristotle said that the artisan just had the knowledge to make it, so the art itself is the efficient cause. The final cause for the statue was to be put into the Temple. Through this example, it is easy to see that all the stages are in aid of the purpose of the statue, showing that Aristotle’s theory was teleological. The example makes the four causes efficient in explaining the world as almost every object can be explained and it reflects easily on the world …show more content…
This means the four causes and the Theory of the Forms can be easily compared in their effectiveness of explaining the world. Plato said in his Theory of the Forms that there were two worlds and that the forms were eternal and unchanging, which is difficult to prove as true. In comparison, Aristotle’s theories of causation say that everything is constantly changing and focuses heavily on the world we already know, which is easier to prove and more realistic in explaining the world. Plato was also a rationalist and didn’t trust the senses, whereas Aristotle’s belief in empiricism meant he could rely on what he observed, again making it more reliable and easy to