Aristotle's Four Causes Study

Heraclitus made the inquiry of the original with duality--"what is the original"and "how is the original";Parmenides asked the question of existence;Aristotle brought the duality of the original question into the question of existence through the theory of "four causes",so that the inquiry of existence also had a double dimension.The theory of four causes includes formal cause,material cause,objective cause and dynamic cause.Aristotle demonstrated that the two(objective cause and dynamic cause have profound internal consistency with the formal cause,so the theory of "four causes" is actually two causes.Then he introduced the concept of potential and reality,and form and matter are the key to "what is existence? potential and reality further answers the question "how is existence?".Aristotle argues that the two questions are compared,"What is it?" This question is all the more important,because only when a thing is able to sustain a "how" can a thing become a stable "what".Aristotle to potential combined with material,reality and forms,respectively,in order to better answer questions change,In the state of potential,the material is already the "at present" of the overall principle,that is,the individual,but form principle as a whole also need a road to implement fully realize the nature of itself,namely self-realization,So potential is bound to develop into reality.Thus,the Aristotelian version of the individualization principle can be summarized as: form,as a whole principle,is first imprinted in the individual(matter)and realizes itself through the path of the realization of the nature of the individual(matter).Thomas Aquinas put forward the concept of "specific material" in the Middle Ages,and believed that material is the individualization principle of things.Aquinas believes that there is no potential in nature that is completely independent of reality,so he believes that the transformation of materials into individual things becomes a problem.Aquinas only saw what exists in Aristotle's metaphysics,and dissolved the dimension of how to be.This reflects the misinterpretation of Aristotle's ideas by later philosophers.They not only have difficulty understanding the depth of the four-cause and ousia problems,but also can't see the duality of the "existing" problem,but only emphasis on the existing problems,because they only see the existence but ignore the existence.The real reason for its existence.Therefore,Hegel said that it is difficult to truly understand Aristotle's philosophy in essence;Heidegger believes that metaphysics are everywhere and do not see existence.Through the analysis of Aristotle's "four-cause theory",this paper tries to reveal that the real purpose of Aristotle's four-cause theory is to clarify the existence of problems,and the "four-cause theory" is essentially Aristotle's idea of individualization.This will reveal the more far-reaching problem in Aristotle's thought of "four causes".