Aristotle, the Theory of Causes or the Theory of Four Explanations?

Abstract

The inappropriate use of "cause" in the translation of Aition and transferring the conceptual and metaphysical content of active cause to other causes, especially the ultimate cause, has caused misinterpretations and misunderstanding of this concept. If the relationship between cause and explanation is not taken into account, there will be confusion between the meaning of cause in the new philosophy and Aitia, which is caused by not taking into account the difference between "view to fact" and the mind, or the distinction between proof and evidence. In this article, the why and how to enumerate the Aristotelian causes and the ontological and epistemological strains of the relationship between cause and explanation are discussed from his point of view. The reason for Aristotle's fourfold classification of causes and the understanding of the causal relationship should be found based on the category of change and movement or the relationship between the creator and the artifact. The role of change and movement can be considered as the foundation of the natural analysis of causality based on the teachings of physics and metaphysics, in parallel with Aristotle's theory of causality in secondary analyzes based on the concepts of the middle ground of evidential analogy and general causal innateness. It is possible to consider the cause as a type of explanation or as a part of the explanation known as the causal explanation in such a way that it is both an explanation and an explanation of the cause.

Keywords

• aition
• aitia
• cause
• explanation
• aristotle