The Four Causes of Aristotle

According to Aristotle there are four causes to every affect. Now, a cause is not meant to be something taken in time, like putting an electrical plug in a socket (cause) will lead to my phone being charged (effect). It is really about how and why a thing orignates. 

<b>Material Cause</b> The material cause is what something is made out of. It contains all the physical elements that make up its being. For example, a wooden chair is made of wood and metal nails. 

<b>Formal Cause</b> The formal cause is the idea of the thing. It is the design, shape, or principle that is applied to make the thing what it is. For example, the material cause (wood) can be shaped by the formal cause into somthing other than a chair like a table, bed, or bench. The ideas that are put into the formal cause are what gives the material form.

<b>Efficient Cause</b> Also known as the moving cause, the efficient cause is what arranges the materials into the form that it takes. So a carpenter will be the one that transforms the wood into a chair, table, or bench with his tools.

<b> Final Cause</b> The final cause is the purpose for which a thing is made. The final cause may be objective like a seed growing into a tree or it might be subjective like building a chair so that a person may sit upon it.