ACI 4 Class 7 Flashcards
Explain the meaning of “material cause.”
A “material cause” is the main material or stuff that turns into the result: the thing that “flops over” into the result.
The mind at the moment of birth must have a cause. Why?
The mind changes and varies. All things which vary must have a cause, since they vary with the changing of the energy imparted to them by their cause.
Why can’t this cause be an unchanging thing?
The mind is a changing thing, a thing in a constant state of flux. It
could not, therefore, have been created by an unchanging thing.
Why can’t the cause of your mind at birth be living physical matter?
All living physical matter is involved with one or more of the sense powers. If living physical matter were the cause of your mind at birth, then it would either be one or a combination of the sense powers which was causing this mind. The mind cannot have come from any one of the senses alone since, if this were the case, then a person who lacked this sense (such as a blind or deaf man) could never have a mind. The mind cannot either have come either from all the senses together, or from some combination of them, because in this case a person who lacked any of the sense powers involved could never then have a mind.
Why can’t this cause be outside physical matter?
If some particular kind of outside physical matter—such as some chemical element—were the cause of the mind at birth, then a new mind would be produced whenever this particular chemical element was present. If a combination of particular elements caused this mind, then the mind would disappear whenever any one of the elements was removed from the combination. Additionally, the mind shares none of the general qualities of physical matter.
If this cause is mind, why can’t it be the mind of someone else?
The result of a material cause must resemble that cause. Suppose then that the cause of our mind at birth were the mind or minds of others: those of our parents, for example. In this case the minds of children must always resemble the minds of their parents—the child of an artisan, for example, would always have to exhibit the skill of its parent. But it is obvious that this is not generally the case at all.
