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efficient cause

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efficient cause

In Aristotle's philosophy, one of the four causes of things. The efficient cause of a man, according to Aristotle, is his father. The other three causes of a man are material cause (flesh), formal cause (the form of man), and final cause (the end, or purpose, of human life).

Only two of Aristotle's causes answer to English usage: the efficient and the final causes. The Greek word translated as ‘cause’ means something more like ‘responsible factor’ or ‘necessary condition’.
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The four causes are: the material cause (for example, water, oil, bread, and wine); the formal cause (the precise words of the minister); the efficient cause (the role of the priest); and the final cause (the conferral of grace).
Bread & wine: what's essential to the Eucharist? by Osborne, Kenan B. / Commonweal
There is, Aquinas asserts, no known instance "in which a thing is found to be the efficient cause of itself, because in that case it would be prior to itself, which is impossible.
The Harmony of Faith and Reason: Today faith is often seen as ... by Behreandt, Dennis J. / The New American
Therefore, to entitle a broker to compensation, courts offered an assortment of definitions on what efforts constitute procuring cause including: efforts which "effected the sale," efforts which were the "direct and efficient cause of the sale," "efforts and instrumentality through which the transaction was induced," efforts that were "the producing cause" and efforts which were the "predominantly efficient cause and really effective means which effected a sale.
Brokerage Law: Procuring Cause -- Revisited by ANWARZAI, MARIAM / Real Estate Weekly
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