Course:Philosophical Foundations of Education

Submitted to:Dr Mahr Saeed Akhtar

Submitted By:

Syedah Madiha Zia

MP/2013-45

1. Surah al-Baqarah ( البقرةسورة ) ayat 117)

كن فيكون ه قضى أمرا فإنما يقول ل وإذا

, When He intends a thing, His Command is, “be”, and it is!

Na tha kuch to Khuda tha, Kuch na hota to

Khuda hota

Daboya Mujhko hone ne Na hota Mein to

kia hota

(Mirza Ghalib)

Causes of Being is the thought originally

presented by Aristotle.

Brief Introduction:

He was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato

and teacher of Alexander the Great.

Born: 384 BC

Died: 322 BC

Aristotle's word for "cause" is the

Greek word “aition”, this word is

commonly used to describe

responsibility or blame. He uses this

word in the sense, an explanation for

how a thing came about.

Aristotle wrote that "we do not have knowledge of

a thing until we have grasped its why, that is to say, its

cause."

Furthermore, Aristotle believed each thing, whatever it

may be, will have four causes, or types of explanatory

factors by which that thing can be explained.

Aristotle was convinced that his four causes provided an

analytical scheme of general applicability

For any thing, Aristotle said these four Questions can be

asked, namely,

1. What is it?

2. What is it Made for?

3. By what is it made?

4. For What end is it made?

The responses to these four questions represent Aristotle’s

Four Causes.

There are four types of causes:

• Material cause

• Formal cause

• Efficient cause

• Final cause

The material cause of an object is equivalent to

the nature of the raw material out of which the

object is composed

Or simply we can say with what a thing is made

of.

Formal cause is a term describing the pattern

which we recognize as being of that particular

type.

It has two types:

The formal cause of a thing has to do with

shape, arrangement, configuration, and so on.

The Exemplary cause is the plan in someone’s

mind that gave rise to a something.

The "efficient cause" of an object is which

causes change and motion to start or stop (such

as a painter painting a house) In many cases, this

is simply the thing that brings something about.

For example, in the case of a statue, it is the

person who transforms a block of marble into a

statue

The efficient cause of a thing is the source from

which the thing becomes what it is.

The efficient cause may be a cause in:

Itself or by accident

principal or instrumental

first or second

universal or particular

univocal or equivocal

proximate or remote

free or necessary

total or partial

physical or moral

cause in potentiality or cause in actuality.

Final cause, or telos, is defined as the purpose,

end, aim, or goal of something.

The final Cause is the ‘end’ for which it is made

Final cause may be defined as that on account

of which something is done.

Taking an object of Art, four causes might be

1. A Statue

2. Of Marble

3. By a Sculptor

4. For Decoration

Statue is Formal Cause, Of Marble is

Material cause, By a Sculptor is Efficient

Cause and for Decoration is Final Cause

Aristotle summarizes these causes by saying

“All the things that come to be, come to be by

some agency and from something, and come to

be something.”