formal cause

[ fawr-muhl ]

noun

, Aristotelianism.

1. cause8b

Word History and Origins

Origin of formal cause¹

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400

Example Sentences

Therefore the formal cause is the concept, or, as Plato would call it, the Idea of the thing.

From Project Gutenberg

Plato alone clearly saw the necessity for the formal cause, for formal causes are, as we have seen, the same as Plato's Ideas.

From Project Gutenberg

If we knew the forma or formal cause of each of those qualities, we could make gold, provided the causes were within our control.

From Project Gutenberg

That is, we must first find out the forma or formal cause of spontaneous rotation.

From Project Gutenberg

Scholasticism was content to talk about it under the name of 'substantial form' or 'formal cause'.

From Project Gutenberg