material cause

English

Noun

material cause (plural material causes)

1. (philosophy, natural science) The stuff or matter of which something is made.
   • 1998, R. J. Schork, Greek and Hellenic Culture in Joyce, →ISBN, page 176:

     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.

Usage notes

• One of the four kinds of causes recognized in Aristotelianism: material cause, formal cause, efficient cause, final cause.

References

• “material cause”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.