formal cause
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English[edit]
Noun[edit]
formal cause (plural formal causes)
- (philosophy, natural science) The design, pattern, or pure concept of a thing, which gives form or structure to its matter.
- 1998, R. J. Schork, Greek and Hellenic Culture in Joyce, →ISBN, page 176:
- In the production of a statue of Athena for the Parthenon, the bronze is the material cause; the shape and design of the statue is the formal cause; the sculptor is the efficient cause; the honor of the goddess (and the glory of Athens) is the final cause.
Usage notes[edit]
- One of the four kinds of causes recognized in Aristotelianism: material cause, formal cause, efficient cause, final cause.
Translations[edit]
References[edit]
- “formal cause”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.