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Title [sv]
Aristoteles teori om kausalitet
Title [en]
Aristotle´s theory of causality
Abstract [sv]
The aim of this project is to develop a reinterpretation of Aristotle?s notion of causality, and to spell out the implications of the view that Aristotle?s theory of causality is a theory of causal explanation. I will argue that previous scholarship has been inclined to interpret Aristotle?s theory of the four causes with the notion of efficient causality as a model, the consequence of which is that one has ascribed to him a highly problematic metaphysics, according to which causes are ?real? components of nature itself. Moreover, I believe that Aristotle has framed his notion of efficient causality after the model of artifical production, which he himself thinks is diametrically opposed to natural generation. To release Aristotle from this model, we must regard his causes as essentially ideal objects, which cannot be meaningfully said to affect or operate on anything, but which nevertheless explain the processes they are implicated in. The project will hopefully contribute to a more refined understanding of Aristotle?s theory of causality, by questioning some of the more long-lived metaphysical assumptions of the debate on this issue so far. By suggesting that the conception of efficient causality has an anthropocentric origin, that is to say, that it is based upon a model of artificial production, I hope that the project may also give an incentive to reconsider the question of what causal attribution at all amounts to, whether we are Aristotelians or not.
Principal InvestigatorWeigelt, Charlotta
Coordinating organisation
Södertörn University
Funder
Period
2013-01-01 － 2015-12-31
National Category
PhilosophyClassical Archaeology and Ancient History
Identifiers
DiVA, id: project:1832Project, id: 2012-00980_VR

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