(October 21, 2021 at 2:52 pm)Jehanne Wrote:(October 21, 2021 at 1:59 pm)vulcanlogician Wrote: Maybe he'd say that was due to "formal" causes. The particular shape (or more precisely "form") of the electron causes specific interactions with specific things. Of course, Aristotle's observations were far too rudimentary to have picked up on quantum subtleties. It took scientists a couple centuries to apprehend these things even after Newton.
In other words, "woo-woo".
Not really woo-woo. Just an ancient, less refined attempt to make sense of the world.
To me, woo-woo means figuring some kind of otherworldly/magical cause into an explanation. Aristotle doesn't do this. A "formal" cause, to Aristotle is the shape of the thing. For example, the permeable structure of a cell membrane (the way it allows water to pass through it) is a "formal" explanation for osmosis.