a.) Aristotle’s Theory of The Four Causes.

Aristotle argues for and explains the four causes in his books ‘Physics’ and ‘Metaphysics’. He claims that there are only four causes (or explanations) needed to give evidence for change in the world. A complete explanation of the change of any object will use all four causes. These causes are; material, formal, efficient and final. Aristotle understood that each of the four causes was necessary to explain the change from potentiality to actuality. The material cause is the substance of which something is made out of; "That from which, as a constituent, an object comes into being." The human bodies ‘material causes’ are cells, skin and tissue. A computer’s ‘material cause’ would be its pixels and electronic components. Aristotle used the example of a bronze sculpture or a silver saucer. Bronze or silver, in this case, would be the material cause. The material cause is also a question scientists try and answer when they examine a specimen; they discover what it is made from. The material cause explains the general properties of an object. For example, the human body needs oxygen because its cells need oxygen, and a computer needs electricity because the electronic components need electricity to fuel them. Finally, the material cause can be split into two sectors: proximate matter and prime matter. Proximate matter is matter that has some working properties, such as cells and electronic components. Prime matter has no properties at all. Aristotle believed that prime matter did not exist, but was theoretically necessary. The formal cause is what makes something one particular thing, as opposed to many other things. It is the form or shape that an object has. It is the idea is that each and every individual thing is composed not only of matter, but also of form. “the form, i.e., the pattern …