Sunday, January 22, 2012

About Cup of Cosmos

Cup of Cosmos has been brewing for a long time and now it is finally ready to serve! Walk carefully as this cup can (at times) be filled to the brim. Sip slowly so that you are able to digest everything inside. Not only is this a look into my cup of cosmos, but I hope that it will inspire you to brew up your own pot, share and serve. To kick off this first cup, I wanted to share an essay that I wrote my freshman year at the Evergreen State College–the very place where my first cup of cosmos came to be...

This Cup is for Professor Chuck Pailthorp
Formal and Final Cause
Rudy Shaffer
November 26, 2007

Wrap you hands around your warm coffee mug on a cold morning. What makes its shape pleasing? How is it designed to serve its particular purpose? What makes it work? The four causes presented in Aristotle’s Physics—substance (the material), form (the pattern), primary principle of change or stability (the manufacturer), and final (the end result)—show how substance and intent combine to create the whole. In Aristotle’s words, “we think we know something only when we find the reason why it is so (pg.102).” Applying the four causes to the coffee mug enhances your understanding of the process and appreciation for the result.

The substance used to make the mug is clay. Aristotle says, “…that from which…a thing comes to be is said to be the thing’s cause (p. 102).” The properties of clay make it the material of choice for creating the mug—for causing the mug to come into existence. It can be shaped and molded. When dries it becomes a solid. When it is fired it resists cracking and crumbling. The clay lends itself to the shape and structure and purpose of the mug. According to Aristotle, knowing these properties informs choosing clay for the mug’s substance: “Clearly, then, we must also find the reason why in the case of coming to be, perishing, and every sort of natural change, so that when we know their principles we can try to refer whatever we are searching for to these principles (pg.102).”

The form the mug takes is its essence. In its ideal form, it is bowl-shaped and has a handle big enough to stick your finger through. These characteristics comprise the pattern for a mug that everyone would recognize. Aristotle says, “…the pattern is a cause (p. 102).” By naming the object a mug, “all of the parts are in the account (p. 102).”

Aristotle goes on to say that “…the producer is a cause of the product (p. 103).” In the case of the mug, the potter is the producer. The potter makes the decision to create a mug and makes choices about substance and pattern based on his intention. The potter knows how to work and control the material and follow the pattern, changing clay into a vessel with a handy hook for a finger.

Finally, Aristotle states that “something’s end—what it is for—is its cause (p. 103).” The mug was made to hold coffee. You use it because you recognize that it will suit its purpose. Aristotle goes on to say, “The last three often amount to one; for what something is and what it is for are one, and the first source of the motion is the same in species as these, since man generates a man (p. 113)”: The potter makes a mug to hold coffee.

In nature, the causes are reduced to substance and form, which combine to define purpose. Absent is the producer making the self-conscious intention of producing something for a particular reason or use. Aristotle says, “since nature is of two sorts, nature as matter and nature as form, and the form is the end, and since everything else is for the end, the form must be what things are for (pg.115)”. The material the mug is made from, the clay, comes from nature. It consists of mud, minerals and water. Without a producer imposing his purpose onto the clay, it simply exists as is; its form is its final cause.

The substance and form of the clay (found in nature) combine to produce the material the potter uses to make the mug. The choice is based on the properties of the clay and its ability to be formed into for its intended use. The mug’s pleasing shape and the way it feels cannot be separated from the potter who made it or the clay that he used. Its ability to hold coffee cannot be separated from the pattern than defines its purpose. It is because of the four causes that we find pleasure in such a small object and can wake up day after day and rely on a mug to get us through the morning. How it feels in our hand, where it came from, or what is inside are all matters of what make it special depending on the hand that holds it.