On Formal Cause

Aristotle identified four causes of natural phenomena: formal, efficient, material, and final. The efficient cause is the maker and the making process. The material cause is the matter involved (solder, bricks . . .). The final cause is the result or object itself. Formal cause, however, remains enigmatic. Long thought to be “plans” or “blueprints,” it is found to be situational or environmental cause and to operate in many fields, particularly the arts, and the study of media and their ecologies.