Aristotle said nothing is fully explained until you've named all four of its causes

In the Physics, Aristotle argued that truly understanding why something exists requires four separate answers: what it's made of (material cause), what form or design it takes (formal cause), what brought it about (efficient cause), and what it's for (final cause). A bronze statue, for instance, needs bronze, a design, a sculptor, and a purpose before it fully makes sense.

— Aristotle, Physics — Book II, c. 350 BCE

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