Why is B the cause
of A's belonging to C? Because to be in a condition such as B is to be
in health. The definitions must be transposed, and then the detail
will become clearer. Incidentally, here the order of coming to be is
the reverse of what it is in proof through the efficient cause: in the
efficient order the middle term must come to be first, whereas in
the teleological order the minor, C, must first take place, and the
end in view comes last in time.
The same thing may exist for an end and be necessitated as well. For
example, light shines through a lantern (1) because that which consists
of relatively small particles necessarily passes through pores larger
than those particles-assuming that light does issue by penetration-
and (2) for an end, namely to save us from stumbling. If then, a
thing can exist through two causes, can it come to be through two
causes-as for instance if thunder be a hiss and a roar necessarily
produced by the quenching of fire, and also designed, as the
Pythagoreans say, for a threat to terrify those that lie in Tartarus?
Indeed, there are very many such cases, mostly among the processes
and products of the natural world; for nature, in different senses
of the term 'nature', produces now for an end, now by necessity.
Pages:
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136