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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Philosophical Instructions Lesson Thirty-Eight: The Efficient Cause Introduction One of the most famous classifications of causes (perhaps stated for the first time by Aristotle) is that of efficient causes, final causes, material causes and formal causes, of which the first two types are called external causes and the latter two are called internal causes or ‘causes of subsistence’ ( ‘ilal-e qawām ), and from one perspective are called causes of whatness.

From the previous lessons it has become clear that the application (of the concept of) cause to the latter two types involves some imprecision. At the end of Lesson Thirty-One it was indicated that the material and formal causes are the very matter and form of the bodies, which are called material and formal causes in relation to compound bodies and are called matter and form in relation to each other, and which are naturally specific to material things.

Since we will discuss matter and form later,1 here discussion of them may be postponed. The section on Causality will be concluded with a discussion of efficient causes and final causes. The Efficient Cause and its Types By the efficient cause is meant an existent by which another existent (the effect) is brought about, and in its general sense it also includes natural agents which have an effect on the movements and changes of bodies.

Ancient philosophers recognized two kinds of actions and influences in the world: one is willful action ( fi‘l irādī ) which is performed willfully by living existents which possess consciousness, actions such as movement and other properties which accord with the will of the agent, such as the voluntary ( ikhtiyārī ) actions of man which occur in various forms; and the other kind is that of action done by existents without consciousness and without will which are monotonous and without variation.

The ancient philosophers held that there was a specific nature for each kind of corporeal existents which essentially had special requirements. For instance, each of the four elements, earth, water, air and fire, was considered to have a propensity for its own natural location and specific natural qualities, such that, for example, if their locations were changed by means of some external factor, their natural tendency would be to move toward their original locations.

In this way they justified the falling of stones, the pouring of rain and the rising of the flames of fire.