Monday, September 19, 2005

Types of Productive Efficient Causation

A useful chart for those interested in scholastic views of efficient causation, which I think traces back to Alfred Freddoso (obviously, I've reworked the chart to make it easier to post). It's convenient for introducing students to the bare basics.

There are five types of change:

Substantial (creation)
Substantial (generation, annihilation)
Accidental: Change of Quality (alteration)
Accidental: Change of Quantity (augmentation, diminution)
Accidental: Change of Place (locomotion)

Strictly speaking, the first isn't really a change; but we often conceive of it as if it were. The final four are all cases of mutatio; the final three are all cases of motus. Sometimes motus and mutatio are used by figure of speech for the others, but the scholastics tend to be very good at being clearwhen they are using such terms in a looser sense.

Taking the productive rather than destructive cases, for simplification (the destructive cases would actually be much the same):

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Type of Productive Causation / Type of Actuality Introduced / Type of Passive Potential In Which It Is Introduced

Accidental / Accidental Form / Substance
Generation / Substantial Form / Prime Matter
Creation / Actual Being (esse) / Essence

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