THE METAPHYSICAL ASSUMPTIONS OF THE ARISTOTELIAN DOCTRINE OF FOURFOLD CAUSALITY. AN ONTOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

The nature of coming into being is a fundamental problem of every realistic metaphysics. Its explanation can be thus regarded as a test of a metaphysical system. The paper investigates the Aristotelian doctrine of becoming based on a system of four coordinated causes. This doctrine influenced the majority of subsequent metaphysical systems in an essential way. The author's analysis does not concentrate on historical questions but tries to reconstruct a basic fragment of the metaphysical system itself.