efficient cause
Noun
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Noun
efficient cause (plural efficient causes)
- (philosophy, natural science) The being or event which physically brings about the change or motion that produces another occurrence or thing.
- 1781, Samuel Johnson, quoting Sir Richard Blackmore in Lives of the Poets:
- As to its efficient cause, wit owes its production to an extraordinary and peculiar temperament in the constitution of the possessor of it, in which is found a concurrence of regular and exalted ferments, and an affluence of animal spirits, refined and rectified to a great degree of purity.
- 1998, R. J. Schork, Greek and Hellenic Culture in Joyce, ISBN 9780813016092, [http://books.google.ca/books?id=v-PR2oOTjJoC&pg=PA176&dq=%22efficient+cause%22+subject:%22fiction%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=UWxDUb_mCIee2QXUlIDoBA&ved=0CGkQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=%22efficient%20cause%22%20subject%3A%22fiction%22&f=false p. 176 (Google preview)]:
- In the production of a statue of Athena for the Parthenon, the bronze is the material cause; the shape and design of the statue is the formal cause; the sculptor is the efficient cause; the honor of the goddess (and the glory of Athens) is the final cause.
- 1781, Samuel Johnson, quoting Sir Richard Blackmore in Lives of the Poets:
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003