Ziomara asked:

What are the four causes in Aristotle? Does any one resemble the Platonic Form?

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Aristotle discusses the four causes in Book II of the Physics.He is working from a definition of
"cause" which in plain English would mean, what we need to know in order to give a full account of
the nature of a thing. The Greek word for cause (Latin causa) is aition,which means 'that to which
something else is indebted.' "The four causes are the ways, all belonging at once to each other, of
being responsible for something else." (Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology).
Heidegger argues in this essay that the four causes are not what we mean by causes, but what we
might mean by "modes of occasioning".

These are the four causes. (i) the causa materialis,the material, the matter out of which, for example,
a silver chalice is made. (ii) the causa formalis,the form, the shape into which into which the material
enters; (iii) the causa finalis,the end, for example, the sacrificial rite in relation to which the chalice
required is determined as to its form and matter; (iv) the causa efficiens,which brings about the effect
that is the finished, actual chalice, in this instance, the silversmith.

Matthew Del Nevo

http://www.sicetnon.com