my little corner...

A 1980 article critisizing the shuttle program that is eerily reminiscent of many of the current theories on the Columbia disaster.

Aristotle's Four causes do not refer to cause in the way that we understand cause and effect, but rather attempt to explain why and object or thing is as it is. The four causes are

1. the material cause
2. the efficient cause
3. the formal cause
4. the final cause

Using the example of a bowl the four causes are illustrated in answering the question "Why is this thing a bowl?"

1. because it was originally a lump of clay, and clay is normally used to make bowls
2. because it is round and curved upwards and shaped like a bowl
3. because the potter made it that way
4. because it holds cereal and milk and generally acts like a bowl

So yeah, Kerry, I know you're thinking that those four causes are not as distinct or as useful for understanding things as I made them out to be. I agree that I misremembered them and that it's not quite as intriguing as I thought it was.

we now return you to your regularly scheduled life...