Aristotle is famous, or infamous, for what is known as his doctrine of the four causes. As I’ve explained before, there are many misconceptions about these matters, but I’ll go with the traditional description for the purpose of this somewhat fanciful post about what causes an examined life of wisdom and fulfillment.
First is the material cause. This is that “out of which” a thing is made: a tree is made out of wood, a syllable is made out of letters, an argument is made out of premises, and a play is made out scenes. Similarly, life is made out of words and deeds, actions and emotions, projects and relationships, and everything else one experiences between birth and death. Thus metaphorically we can say that experience provides the wood.
Second is the efficient cause. This is that “from which” a change or motion begins: parents make a child, a builder (or the craft of house-building) makes a house, and so on. What is the efficient cause of a lifetime of seeking wisdom and fulfillment? Following Socrates and Plato, Aristotle says that it’s the experience of wonder about the mysteries of life and the universe. Thus metaphorically we can say that, after experience provides the wood, wonder lights the spark for good.
Third is the formal cause. This is “what it is to be something” - something’s identity or, more generally, its way of being. An example that Aristotle uses is the octave in music: what it is to be an octave is to have a ratio of two to one. A more familiar example might be a house, for which the formal cause is the architectural plan according to which the house was built. What forms a life of wisdom and fulfillment? At the highest level, Aristotle says it is philosophy, for as Pierre Hadot observed the purpose of philosophy is not to inform us but to form us. Thus metaphorically we can say that the love of wisdom shapes the flame of our pursuit of deep fulfillment in life.
Fourth is the final cause. This is that “for the sake of which” something acts within its way of being or, especially (since living beings are the paradigmatic entities), its way of life. Sometimes this is a conscious purpose, but Aristotle argues that even things like trees and insects have aims because the things they do (e.g., metabolic functions) are for the sake of the entity’s continued existence. In human life, Aristotle holds that the highest purpose is doing what is beautiful and thus emulating or enacting the most divine aspects of existence. Thus metaphorically we can say that, once the spark has been lit, beauty is the fire’s aim.
We can summarize these insights in a poetic quatrain:
Experience provides the wood,
Then wonder lights the spark for good;
The love of wisdom shapes the flame,
For beauty is the fire’s aim.
(Cross-posted at Beautiful Wisdom.)
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