Aristotle's Four Causes | Highlights Ep.43

In this Highlight from Hillsdale College’s FREE online course, “Introduction to Western Philosophy,” Dr. Nathan Schlueter explains Aristotle's four causes and how they relate to Aristotle's idea of an unmoved mover.

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Hillsdale College is an independent institution of higher learning founded in 1844 by men and women “grateful to God for the inestimable blessings” resulting from civil and religious liberty and “believing that the diffusion of learning is essential to the perpetuity of these blessings.” It pursues the stated object of the founders: “to furnish all persons who wish, irrespective of nation, color, or sex, a literary, scientific, [and] theological education” outstanding among American colleges “and to combine with this such moral and social instruction as will best develop the minds and improve the hearts of its pupils.” As a nonsectarian Christian institution, Hillsdale College maintains “by precept and example” the immemorial teachings and practices of the Christian faith.

The College also considers itself a trustee of our Western philosophical and theological inheritance tracing to Athens and Jerusalem, a heritage finding its clearest expression in the American experiment of self-government under law.

By training the young in the liberal arts, Hillsdale College prepares students to become leaders worthy of that legacy. By encouraging the scholarship of its faculty, it contributes to the preservation of that legacy for future generations. By publicly defending that legacy, it enlists the aid of other friends of free civilization and thus secures the conditions of its own survival and independence.

[Daniel-clhj]

I'm glad we get to live in a time when things like this have already been thought about and shared.

[voluntaryist]

It was Ayn Rand that introduced me to Aristotle's metaphysics Jan. 1, 1966. That day I began to understand philosophy and love it. I am eternally grateful to her.

[geridannels]

And that is beautiful. Life is beautiful, thank you Hillsdale. Thank God for this knowledge.

[milaszczecina]

As a philosophy student I thank you. This was amazing. The clarity and the passion and the beautiful filming xxx

[woutervanwijhepianist]

This video has a lot of potency, I can't wait to see it in its viral form.

[TheLochs]

I'm so amazed by the ancient Greeks. Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Diogenes, Pythagoras, etc, so many amazing minds.

[marandlen]

Thank you for bringing these thoughts to us!

[drewbarton]

And this folks, is an example of higher learning. Higher learning worth paying for.

[romancarp]

Massively disappointed that he didn't bite into the apple at the end

[justtalking]

"Before causes could be caused, the Great Uncaused caused physical and metaphysical causes to be caused." - An amateurs rendition of Gen 1:1 "caused" from watching this explanation.

[GuldurKhand]

My since past grandmother told me something in her last years when she had cancer. When she was young she ate an apple, her dad said that that apple was grown for her. Good to see this video.

[tomdooley]

Thank your, I love ancient philosophy, and history, got hooked
Studying Aesthetics.

[Daniel-clhj]

At about 4:00 I believe he's talking about the difference between essentially and accidentally ordered causal series. This unmoved/prime mover can be reasoned toward through these essentially ordered causal series. It's also echoed by Saint Thomas Aquinas in his "first way" (the argument from motion).

[lifemasterkris]

Great job. I’ve loved Aristotle’s works since back in high school. They’re the reason that I pursued a sidebar in college of studying Attic Greek.

[henningvisser]

Thank you. Very informative video.
It is a great tragedy that no one ever involved in compiling the educational paradigm, considered to include basic philosophy into the curriculum from the lower grades..

[henrike]

Great explanation! Aristotle's at his best!

[DavidUrbinaFitness]

What your trying to convey is the principal of "causality" & the cycle of life as well ❗what I get from this discourse is to try to attain your full potential as a human being, also as above so below❗ great insert to provoke critical thought 👁 left a like on the video 📖

[H.C.Q.]

“An apple is an immature apple tree”. Profound!

[ludwigkirchner]

Applied to the abortionist's rhetoric:
the potency of those 'clump of cells' you created has 100% certainty to produce the actuality of the form of a human baby (natural flaws demonstrably inclusive)

[nathanngumi]

Word. The prime mover is God who set everything in motion.