Aristotle

By way of preface: a tribute to Aristotle

The beginning of all sciences is the astonishment that things are what they are. (Aristotle, Metaphysics book A 983a10)

Aristotle dreamed of science but before him it didn't exist so he did it. He is the founder of science. He was Plato's best student. He proved himself worthy of his master by being better than him. He taught that we have to give good evidence to do science. For example, he gives as proof of the roundness of the Earth its shadow on the Moon. He is the first to have taught the rules of logically correct reasoning. He showed us how to distinguish between good reasoning, with which we do science, and sophisms or paralogisms, with which we impose ignorance. He taught the four causes: the material cause, the moving cause, the final cause and the essence. Since Aristotle science has progressed and we understand these causes better than in his time. Our answers are sometimes different but the questions are the same.

The material cause: what is it made of?

The moving cause: what effect does it make?

The final cause: what must it make?

The essence: what is it?

To know the material causes, it is necessary to know the constitution of materials and constructions. For example, we can know the constitution of a molecule by knowing all its atoms, their positions and their bonds. One can also know the engineering plans for a machine or a building.

To know the moving causes, it is necessary to know the sequence of causes and effects. What are the prerequisites for the effects produced? What effects can be expected from the conditions already met?

The knowledge of the moving causes explains the origin and the mode of production of all that appears. Where does it come from? How is it produced? How to make it?

It provides the means to predict: what are the future consequences of the present conditions?

It requires the knowledge of the material causes because to know what it makes we must know what it is made of.

Final causes are fundamental to three scientific disciplines: biology, psychology and ethics.

All parts of a living being serve other parts. The health of the organism, including its fertility, is the ultimate final cause of all its parts. Natural selection retains only what contributes to an individual's health. This is why the molecules, cells, tissues and organs of a living being always have functions, in other words, final causes.

The knowledge of the final causes requires the knowledge of moving causes, because it is not enough to identify the ends, it is also necessary to know how they are reached, the sequence of the causes and the effects. Since a means can itself be considered as an end, for which other means must be brought together, the final causes are linked to each other in the same way as moving causes.

By giving himself intentions a mind chooses for himself the final causes which he pursues. Voluntary behaviors are explained by knowing the goals, the directives, the rules, the program that a mind gives to himself. Intentions are at the same time final causes and moving causes because they set us in motion.

Ethics is the science of the good of the mind. The good is the ultimate final cause for all minds. The good and all goods are at the same time final causes and moving causes. For example Aristotle dreamed of science thinking it was good. This dream of the good pushed him to make science.

The knowledge of essences is the theoretical knowledge of concepts. We know beings by attributing concepts to them. Concepts are properties or relations. But how do we know the concepts? What is it to have a certain property or a certain relation?

Concepts are determined in two complementary ways, one is empirical, the other is theoretical. A concept is empirically determined when we know the observation systems that detect its presence. It is theoretically determined when we know the theories from which we reason with it. A theory is a system of principles. Principles are axioms or definitions. To know the essences is to know the axioms and definitions that determine the concepts.

The knowledge of essences is fundamental for the knowledge of the other three causes, because the material, moving and final causes are known with the theories and the concepts that they determine. It is par excellence the knowledge of the scholar, scientist or philosopher.

The four causes pose the most fundamental questions to which all sciences are called upon to answer. By teaching the four causes Aristotle gave the research program of all sciences. Aristotle founded science by giving a good research program for all sciences, because the final cause, the program, is also the main moving cause.

The principles of science are of two kinds. Some are fundamental laws with which we explain reality. The others are prescriptions. They determine the ideal of science, the objectives and the rules, the work and research programs that we give ourselves to do science. The ideal of science is at the same time the main moving cause and the final cause of science.

This lesson is general: to work well, we have to adopt good principles that make up a good program. This applies in all areas.