Aristotle, Metaphysics, bk. 1 | Accounts Introducing Efficient Causes | Philosophy Core Concepts

This is a video in my new Core Concepts series -- designed to provide students and lifelong learners a brief discussion focused on one main concept from a classic philosophical text and thinker.

This Core Concept video focuses on Aristotle's work, the Metaphysics and examines his discussion in book 1 of his predecessors' metaphysical accounts that go beyond simply using a material cause, and that bring in an efficient cause in order to explain how motion and change are produced. He discusses in particular Hesiod, Empedocles, and Anaxagoras. He also criticizes them for not noting the importance of the final cause.

My videos are used by students, lifelong learners, other professors, and professionals to learn more about topics, texts, and thinkers in philosophy, religious studies, literature, social-political theory, critical thinking, and communications. These include college and university classes, British A-levels preparation, and Indian civil service (IAS) examination preparation

#philosophy #Aristotle #metaphysics

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[iridule]

Thank you for making this video. I am currently reading David Bentley Hart's book "The Experience of God" and could not climb the walls that are Aristotle's Four Causes – especially the efficient one. This video has helped a lot and I am now well on my way to understanding how Hart contrasts an older understanding of the universe and the more recent mechanistic one. Thank you again!