A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF ARISTOTLE’S CONCEPTION OF CAUSALITY

A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF ARISTOTLE’S CONCEPTION OF CAUSALITY

ABSTRACT

Causality has been variously defined, and even given an empirical understanding. Causality is derived from the term “cause which means anything capable of changing something else or that which “produces something (makes something happen; bring about the occurrence of something) without which that thing would not have resulted. That which is produced (or changed) is called the effect and the effect is explained by it cause. Nevertheless, in the treatment of causality Aristotle in his first philosophy or metaphysics gave a holistic analysis of the concept of causality, were he uses the term “cause” to mean explanation. However, for the Africans, “cause” has meaning basically from a metaphysical approach. That every effect has a cause is a very strong belief in the African world view. This means that whatever happens physically or otherwise has an explanation and this explanation may be spiritual as well as natural. Nevertheless, this work attempts a critique of Aristotle’s analysis of causality.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page

Table of Contents

Abstract

CHAPTER ONE (GENERAL INTRODUCTION)

1.1               Background of the Study

1.2               Statement of the Problem

1.3               Methodology

1.4               Scope of the Study

1.5               Purpose of the Study

1.6               Significance of the Study

1.7               Literature Review

Notes and References                                                                

CHAPTER TWO:   THE GENERAL PHILOSOPHY OF ARISTOTLE

2.1              Background of Aristotle

2.2               His Theory of Logic

2.3               His Theory of Knowledge

2.4               His Theory of Metaphysics

2.5               His Theory of Ethics

2.6               His Theory of Politics

      Notes and References                                                          

CHAPTER THREE:            AN ANALYSIS OF ARISTOTLE’S CONCEPTION OF CAUSALITY.

3.1               The Meaning of Causality

3.2               Aristotle’s Metaphysics as a Foundation

3.3               Aristotle’s Conception of Causality

3.4               Formal Cause

3.5               Material Cause

3.6               Efficient Cause

3.7               Final Cause

Notes and References                                                   

CHAPTER FOUR: EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION 

4.1              Summary of the Main Points

4.2              Some Merits of Aristotle’s Theory

4.3              Some Demerits of Aristotle’s Theory

4.4              Causality in a Post Aristotle’s Era

Notes and References                                  

Conclusion

Bibliography                                                 

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

The problem of causality has been among the central concerns of many thinkers. When certain events happen, we tend to ask ‘why’. This is because such events produce some effects.  In asking the question ‘why’, we are asking for the cause of the event. We seek an explanation that would enable us understand the effect which the event produces. This explains the whole problem and notion of causality. The Ionian philosophers probably the earliest thinkers did not fail to recognize that the world as it is did not come to be without being caused by some other things.

A CRITICAL EVALUATION OF ARISTOTLE’S CONCEPTION OF CAUSALITY