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You will hardly find one among the profounder sort of scientific minds without peculiar religious feelings of his own.... His religious feeling takes the form of rapturous amazement at the harmony of the natural law.... This feeling is the guiding principle of his life and work. It is without question akin to that which has possessed the religious geniuses of all ages. Albert Einstein.
A pure response to the world around us is that of a child who seeks to know it
more deeply and to enjoy it more completely. It is a response called from our
hearts and minds by changes that happen around us. Sunshine, wind and rain,
plants growing, people coming and going, nothing remains the same forever. We
are surrounded by continuous change.
It may be that a little detail attracts and holds our attention and
stimulates interest, a rhythm or a pattern that hints at order and relationships
which were previously unknown, or it may be a glimpse of the grand design, an
intuition of universal harmony. The door to knowledge and understanding is
always open. If we ignore it we act against human nature. Passing through it
we are lead inevitably to ask such fundamental questions as: Where does it all
begin? How did it happen? Is there any purpose, or is it all a result of
chance?
Philosophers try to answer these questions. Some spend their time
thinking about the meaning of words, others are more interested in morality, but
most philosophers respond to the great ideas that attract every awakened mind
and are the subject matter of eminent artists in every discipline.
When looking at an important idea philosophers ask fundamental
questions - Why? What? Who? and How? Why was such a thing done? Who did it?
What did they do? And How was it done? They are searching to find causes and
to show how events are connected with each other. Sometimes they look for
causes in the past; sometimes they look for hidden causes, as the psychiatrist
does in human activities.
The German philosopher Leibnitz emphasised this search for causes
when he described philosophy as "the science of sufficient reasons".
Let us remember that this universe is one great system. The word "universe"
means that. Philosophy is not reserved as an academic study, although some
academics are quite good at it. We look to practical philosophy that it may
help us to gain the wisdom to live together as a human family. Some of us
believe this is quite a good idea. When we try to achieve harmony in human
relationships the fundamental questions spoken of above arise quite naturally.
Whoever seeks answers, enters the realm of philosophy, it is the natural home of
the mind. Truly, philosophy is a love of wisdom. Only the foolish despise it.
So let us now take a closer look at causes, for they are rarely
simple. If they were there would be quite obvious and "sufficient reasons"
for everything we do, and fewer problems to solve. Nevertheless, causes can be
examined under four headings, moving from how they begin until their completed
result, which is a movement in time or priority.
For general interest I have chosen to look first at the causes of
Michelangelo's paintings in the Sistine chapel:
A. The First
Cause, sometimes called the Final is the purpose or intention that initiates
action. In this case it is the reason for the paintings. The Pope had the
intention to decorate the Sistine chapel. For obvious reasons he chose not to
do this himself but to employ an efficient artist.
B. Then there
is the idea to be expressed in the work. This is called the Intrinsic and
Formal Cause, formal because it is this form which is going to be embodied. The
Formal Cause of these paintings is drawn from mythology, philosophy, and the Old
Testament. The paintings portray the Creation, a Chronicle of Humankind, and
the Last Judgement. Michelangelo said that he created, not with his hands but
with his mind. He then took the forms in his mind, which may be called the
prototypes, and efficiently reproduced them in the paintings. This form may be
understood as "the vision of the artist" and is the Formal Cause.
C. The Efficient Cause is the person doing the work. As the painter,
Michelangelo is the Efficient Cause because he takes the form that exists in his
mind, the vision that he has, and expresses it in the material. If it is done
well then it is completed efficiently.
D. The stuff used to make
the work is called the Material Cause. In the Sistine Chapel the Material Cause
is the walls, the pigments, and other materials which Michelangelo used to
produce the painting.
In the decoration of the chapel, the materials used could have been
applied by any artist, skilfully or clumsily. But the forms created in
Michelangelo's mind, were his alone, and of such transcendent spirituality that
they shine through the work, unimpeded by any mannerism or personal idiosyncrasy
of the artist, or any inadequacy of technique.
Thus there are four causes that can be traced quite easily, these are
the Final, Formal, Efficient, and Material causes. Since the analysis of causes
may be unfamiliar to many readers let us look at another, more abstract example
to illustrate them. Education is a suitable subject, for we all have to learn.
A. The Final cause of an education is for the sake of the individual.
It is to enable the student to become a mature person.
B. The
Formal cause is the idea of a mature human being. This will include:
a) the spiritual, psychological and physical identity;
b)
relationships arising from these, e.g. our physical identity with the physical
world, and our psychological identity with other souls;
c) the
powers and sensitivity of mind, heart, and will;
d) appropriate
language, thinking and other skills which are necessary for any person to live a
rich life within their own culture, and enable them to identify with those ideas
and ideals held to be elevating and true to the character of a mature human
being by the most enlightened members of humanity.
C. The
Efficient cause is the teacher, who guides the student and possesses the vision,
knowledge, and skills to present and discuss, in a manner suited to the student,
information and experiences which embody the lessons of life.
D.
The Material cause, in this case, is not physical matter but the mind, heart and
will of every student, as they learn and live.
"Material"
cause is used, not because the powers of the soul -mind, heart, and will - are
composed of physical material but to emphasise the important quality of
receptivity which is characteristic of the fourth - Material - cause. Matter
receives form and has a natural tendency to express perfectly any form which "informs"
it. In a normal psychological condition our minds are receptive to ideas and we
are informed by them, for we are actually hungering for new forms. This hunger
is not merely for fresh knowledge of the same kind or at the same "level",
for this does not bring new forms but greater detail. It is a hunger for
increased consciousness, for the light of higher ideas to shine within our minds
and upon our present knowledge and thus to reveal causes.
This brings us to another distinction that has to be made. It is
quite clear that the material used by a sculptor, builder or painter has its own
qualities, - in each case it is already "informed" with the qualities
that make it a suitable medium to be used. It is therefore expressing quite
naturally its own form as a material. Any form imposed upon natural material by
a human artist has to take account of the nature of the material, its stoniness
or wooden qualities that are its own natural form.
Although it is quite possible to make a sculpture in ice cream or
other impermanent material, a sculptor usually uses a comparatively static
material. But the material used by a landscape artist is not static. It has
the dynamic quality of the natural world, which changes quite rapidly in
comparison with stone or iron. Time and change are therefore important factors
to be considered by the artist - the efficient cause. In the art of teaching
this factor has to be acknowledged by a teacher, for ideas take time to mature
in the mind.
Education is based upon a great truth: when a mind is informed with
real ideas (as the formal cause), they are so powerful that their expression
follows quite naturally in the life of an individual. In this true life of
ideas "educed" from the soul, the forms have dynamic qualities which
influence all other psychological relationships and tend to form and reform the
character of a student of any age.
The paints used by a painter, the sculptor's stone, and the clay used
by a potter take on the form held in the efficient artist's mind and by doing so
become an expression of that form.
The idea is an abstract
blueprint to which the artist refers as his criterion of excellence during his
work. An artist "informs" the material with the idea. The final
product is therefore a vehicle and a symbol of the idea.
The idea still remains as an abstract reality in the mind of the
artist, even when the material example is destroyed.
If an artist is inefficient for any reason, perhaps because
untrained or inexperienced, or the idea has only a vague form in an artist's
mind, then the matter will be badly informed. In this case the work will still
be symbolic, but it will symbolise a poorly formed idea badly executed.
Therefore it will be artistically impoverished.
So far as education is concerned, any passivity, which is implied in
being receptive to information, ceases as soon as the student's mind is actively
engaged. Active and receptive states alternate rapidly as fresh information is
received and integrated within the mental model. Of course memory and emotions
influence this process but it is not appropriate to discuss them here.
These four causes are significant. In the study of philosophy and in
our own lives they are an important key to knowledge, understanding, and wisdom.
To think about them even in quite ordinary affairs, like cooking or being a
parent, will give us fresh insights for they reveal the art in human activities,
not least the art of a more productive and harmonious life.
First,
or Final cause.... the purpose. .............Why?
Formal
cause.............the idea or form...........What?
Efficient
cause..........the executor, artist, or instrument.............Who?
Material
cause...........the materials, patient, or ingredients............How?
Our scientific knowledge about the world, its minerals, vegetation
and animal life, about the universe and ourselves, often comes from looking at
the final result, the physical presence of the subject. In many quests for
truth we are therefore beginning at the end, where the light of truth is
embodied and sometimes eclipsed by the material cause.
Here is one more example for you to do, just for fun!
It is your purpose to cross a river.
You will need a bridge or a boat. Decide on your formal cause.
Will you make it yourself or get a builder? Decide on your efficient
cause.
What materials will you use, and where will you have it made? If it
is a boat, have it made on the bank where you are!
Now cross the river and the first cause is the final cause.
As you have probably noticed, it is often necessary to break down the causes
into other chains or series of causes. For example, the boatbuilder will have a
much clearer idea of the form of a suitable boat in his mind than the traveller
may have so he accepts the first cause and contributes to the formal cause as
well as being the efficient cause. To get results and to solve problems it is
useful to remember these causes. If you consider the universe itself, or your
own self, in terms of the four causes it is very enlightening.
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