Glossary

Efficient cause	One of Aristotle's four kinds of causes - specifically, the agency that initiates a change, the "doer" of action.



Final cause	One of Aristotle's four kind of causes - specifically, the ultimate purpose for which something happens.



Formal cause	For Aristotle, the form of a thing; that which answers the question What is the thing?



Logic	The study of the methods, principles, and criteria of correct reasoning.



Material cause	For Aristotle, the matter or stuff out of which something is made.



Realism	The theory that universals exist outside the mind.



Third Man argument	Aristotle's criticism of Plato's Theory of Forms, according to which there must be a third thing that ties together a form with the particular things that exemplify it.



Universal	That which is denoted by a general word, a word (such as "chair") that applies to more than a single thing.

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