Making Room for Matter: Material Causes in the Phaedo and the Physics

It is often claimed that Socrates rejects material causes in the Phaedo because they are not rational or not teleological. In this paper I argue for a new account: Socrates ultimately rejects material causes because he is committed to each change having a single cause. Because each change has a sing...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor: Ebrey, David, 1978-
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2014
País:España
Recursos:Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya)
Repositorio:Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya
OAI Identifier:oai:recercat.cat:2445/206548
Acesso em linha:https://hdl.handle.net/2445/206548
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Filosofia
Philosophy
Aristòtil, 384 aC-322 aC. Física
Plató, 428 aC o 427 aC-348 aC o 347 aC. Fedó
Descrição
Resumo:It is often claimed that Socrates rejects material causes in the Phaedo because they are not rational or not teleological. In this paper I argue for a new account: Socrates ultimately rejects material causes because he is committed to each change having a single cause. Because each change has a single cause, this cause must, on its own, provide an adequate explanation for the change. Material causes cannot provide an adequate explanation on their own and soSocrates rejects them. Aristotle agrees that material causes cannot explain changes on their own, but by allowing the same change to have multiple causes, he makes room for a material cause. Aristotle draws attention to the anti-Platonic implications of his four causes in a passage in Physics II.3 (195a3-14) that has been overlooked by commentators.