Philosophy 205: The Effective and the Ineffective - revised

Contents:

Introduction

Part A: The Effective

Section 1. Aristotle's four sorts of 'cause'
Section 2: The three pairs of causal concepts
Section 3. Analysis of material - perceptual
Section 4. Analysis of final - formal
Section 5. Analysis of cause - effect

Part B: The Ineffective

Section 6. Sorts of causal failure

Appendix: The Three Groups in this topic

Introduction

The effective is the end of practical knowledge.

Aristotle's doctrine of the four 'causes' is adapted in this article to my Three Groups thesis. This results in three pairs of 'causal' or explanatory concepts.

My use of G1, G2 and G3 refers to my thesis that the central concepts of each philosophical topic fall into three groups.

Section 1: Aristotle's four 'causes'

Aristotle's doctrine of the 'four causes' is normally interpreted as being about the four main ways of explaining why an object is as it is.

1. Material cause

The material cause of an object is simply the matter from which it is made. The material cause of a knife is usually some sort of metal.

2. Final cause

The final cause of an object is its end (its purpose or function). The final cause of a knife is to cut.

3. Formal cause

The formal cause of an object is its form or structure. The formal cause of a knife is a flat, sharp blade for cutting and a rounded handle for being gripped.

4. Efficient cause

What Aristotle meant by efficient cause is what we almost always mean by 'cause' today: cause and effect. The efficient cause of a knife is the actions of the knife-maker in making it. The knife-maker's actions are the cause and the knife is the effect.

Section 2: The three pairs of causal concepts

I propose that the 'four causes' are better conceived in the following way.

G1: Material - perceptual

G2: Final - formal

G3: Cause - effect

I shall now outline analyses of these three pairs of concepts. Note that these three analyses are based upon David Hume's analysis of cause and effect.

Section 3. Analysis of material - perceptual

G1. Qualitative aspect: material - perceptual are experienced together as the objects of perception (concrete particulars),

G2. Relational aspect: material precedes perceptual in time, and the two are not spatially contiguous,

G3. Quantitative aspect: The quantity of the material - perceptual pair is singularity in duality. (Object = material + perceptual). In logical terms, perceptual is *analogous* to material.

Section 4: Analysis of final - formal

G1. Qualitative aspect: final and formal are experienced together as physical (including biological) process,

G2. Relational aspect: final precedes formal in time, and the pair are spatially contiguous,

G3. Quantitative aspect: The quantity of the final - formal pair is grouped plurality. Quantitatively, function is a sub-set of structure (for each function there are several suitable structures). In logical terms, function is *deducible* from structure. "Form follows (from) function" both chronically and logically.

Section 5: Analysis of cause - effect

G1. Qualitative aspect: cause and effect are experienced together as events,

G2. Relational aspect: effect follows cause in time, and the two are spatially contiguous,

G3. Quantitative aspect: The quantity associated with the cause - effect pair is totality. Hume expressed this as 'constant conjuction'. Logically, cause is *induced* from effect. In the totality of observations, causes of sort Cx always have effects of sort Ex. (This is why the observation of a white shoe confirms the conclusion that all ravens are black: an induction is an implicit appeal to the totality of possible observations.)

Constant conjunction means that a cause and its effect are repeatedly observed together. Another way of putting this is to say constant conjunction indicates a Natural Law. Yet another way of putting it is to say that cause and effect, although contingent in nature, exhibit Natural Necessity (as distinct from Semantic Necessity and Logical Necessity (see Philosophy 204, Section A)).

The equation of contingency with natural necessity is a principle of Hard Determinism (see Philosophy 210, Section 1).

Part B: The Ineffective

Section 6. Sorts of causal failure

G1: Failure of material - perceptual

This is the failure of a material to have the qualities necessary to the realization of a function (final and formal cause) to which it is the material means.

G2: Failure of a final - formal

This is the failure, under stress from an external source, of a functional - structural nexus, whether particular or species, etc., to survive as an instance of the taxonomic level immediately above it.

G3: Failure of cause - effect

Epistemic failure of cause - effect is the failure to discover and/or learn and/or apply practical knowledge (knowledge of effects and their causes).

Logical failure of cause - effect is the unsuccessful inference of a causal conclusion from apparently sound premises about effects.

Appendix: The Three Groups in this topic

Aristotle's four 'causes':
G1. Material
G2. Final and Formal
G3. Efficient

The three pairs of causal concepts:
G1. Material - perceptual
G2. Final - formal
G3. Cause - effect

Qualities and the causes:
G1. Objects of perception
G2. Physical (including biological) process
G3. Events.

Chronic relations and the causes:
G1. Past to present
G2. Future to present
G3. Present to future

Spatial relations and the causes:
G1. Non-contiguity
G2. Contiguity
G3. Contiguity

Quantities and the causes:
G1. Singularity in duality
G2. Grouped plurality
G3. Totality

The logic of the causal concepts:
G1. Perceptual analogous to material
G2. Final deducible from formal
G3. Cause induced from effects