Question by Diane K: what is the question that metaphysics-nature of reality is trying to solve?
in philosophy metaphysics what is the problem that philosophers try and find answeres to ex. aristotles 4 causes.
Best answer:
Answer by Alan Turing
The fundamental things that philosophy does or tries to do is to understand what we are doing when we do science, believe, hold moral values, create ethical standards, appreciate art, understand music, know, learn, feel, and what is doing all this.
Aristotle had categories that have been replaced with better ways of seeing the world. His four causes would be viewed today as mixing some very unrelated things. For example his causes are 1. material (the origin), 2. formal (what determines something), 3. efficient (causality), and 4. final (purpose).
Today the only “cause” we typically think of is his #3, or causality and his other “causes” are thought to be not causes at all.
Aristotle is often studied in philosophy classes NOT because he had any ultimate answers but just the opposite. Aristotle is such a rich mine of erroneous thought that he is an excellent subject to study to teach the philosophical student the errors someone can make by superficially talking about things.
For example, Aristotle’s fourth cause, purpose. This fits into the poor thinking that goes into such erroneous ideas as Intelligent Design. The idea behind ID is that things appear to be complex enough that they would require something to design them, implying a purpose in their causality. So examining this false idea allows us to begin to understand why the idea of ID is a false idea.
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The first subject of Metaphysics is “Being-Becoming.”
If metaphysics fails to properly identify the nature of “being,” it cannot determine what is to “become.” “What can become” is sometimes referred to as “potentialialty,” or “predicative.”
“Causes” are causes OF what “is” (being,) or what has “become.”
“Aristotle distinguished among
1. the material cause, or that out of which something arises,
2. the formal cause, that is, the pattern or essence determining the creation of a thing,
3. the efficient cause, or the force or agent producing an effect; and
4. the final cause, or purpose. ”
http://www.ditext.com/runes/c.html