The Philosophical Causes

The essential definition of philosophy just given means that the nature
of a thing ,anything , can be understood only in terms of its ultimate
causes, of which there are four, namely, the formal cause, the material
cause (intrinsic causes), efficient cause and final cause (extrinsic
causes). They show the what, who/whom, where, when, how and why
of a thing or of an act or of an event. This doctrine of the four causes
was first expounded by Aristotle and later adopted by the Scholastics.

Intrinsic Causes

Formal cause refers to what a thing is in its essence (also called form). It
is what makes a thing the thing that it is and not any other, and
therefore gives specificity to that thing, defining its quiddity or
“whatness”. Since it is the major determinant of the nature of a thing, it
is best expressed in its definition. For example, when we define man as
rational animal, we are expressing the whatness of in his nature, that
which makes him human, distinguishing him from all other creations
and creatures and all other beings that is he and he alone is man, a
human being. All others are not. In the same vein all other beings or
things have the respective essences which give them the specific
distinctiveness.

Material cause maybe viewed in two ways. First, it is taken as the

substratum in which essence is invested, and when informed, that is,
when form or essence is united with it, a concrete thing is formed. The
essence can be withdrawn or destroyed or corrupted, but the matter
remains in is informed by another essence or form. Which means that
as once essence (form) is destroyed, another is generated to take its
place in the same matter. So that forms come and go but matter
remains accepting forms one after the other.

Wood for example has its form which makes it wood and which
sorts of rides on matter. When wood is burned the essence of form of
wood is destroyed. Simultaneously, the form or essence of ash is
generated replacing the form or essence of wood and riding on the
same matter. In this sense the matter is the material cause of wood. It
is in fact the material cause of all material things. This level of matter is
called prime matter. It is indestructible. Abstracted from form, matter is
in the state of pure potency.

The second way of viewing material cause is in the concept of

content, namely:

a. What a thing is made of, as a table is made of wood

b. What is composed of, as water is composed of hydrogen and
oxygen
c. What it deals with as its content or coverage, as mathematics
deals with numbers

Hence, wood is the material cause of a wooden table, hydrogen

are the material cause of water, and number are the material
cause of mathematics

Extrinsic causes

Efficient cause is that by which the effect is produced consisting of

the external factor responsible for the existence of a thing as a being,
and sustains it that existing and its reason for being or its operations as
an organism. God is the efficient cause of man by reason of creation
and sustenance. Parents, too, by virtue of procreation, are an efficient
cause of their children. The carpenter who constructs a table is its
efficient cause. The mathematician sustains mathematics as discipline
and is therefore the efficient cause of mathematics.

Final cause is that on account of which, the effect is produced. It is in

other words the end or purpose or objective. It is the reason for a thing
exists, or has been created or made, or why an act is pursued. The final
cause of a pen is its use as a writing implement. That of a pair of shoes
is it is as a footwear. Man’s final cause has been the subject of debate
through philosophical history. A good life has been given as a final
cause in this life, and God in the afterlife.

The final cause is the most important of all the causes in the sense that
it is on its account that the three other causes find the reason for being.
It determines whether the agent shall act the mode and manner of the
action, the measure of the effect produced, etc.

Philosophy and Science

There are similarities and there are differences between

philosophy and science. In the first place, science is the genus,
philosophy is a species under it. Philosophy is aptly said to be the
science of dealing with ultimate causes of things; and science refers to
the certain or sure knowledge acquired through demonstration or
proof. To demonstrate or prove the realities of anything is to probe into
its ultimate causes.
 Philosophy and science are both fields of inquiry and
investigation, asking questions and seeking answers to those questions.
They are both processes and structures. As processes, they are both a
body f principles systematically ordered towards the acquisition of
knowledge. And as structures, they are both a body of acquired
knowledge systematically acquired and systematically ordered towards
the acquisition of further knowledge.

However, philosophy and science differ in the kinds of knowledge they

eek and by the approach to the search for knowledge they seek and by
the approach to the search for knowledge. Science seeks immediate
knowledge of facts philosophy seeks ultimate knowledge. Science seeks
immediate causes of things, philosophy seeks ultimate causes. A
scientist therefore who goes beyond factual investigation and seeks
interpretation of these facts in their ultimate causes goes into
philosophical processes and thus becomes a philosopher. And a
philosopher who remains within the process of investigation and
analysis of facts stays on the level of science and thus become a
scientist.

That is as far the distinction goes. Beyond that, the two disciplines
converge into one synthesizing process. Consequently, the
fundamentals issues on philosophy extend to the issues of science and
the issues involved in any and all sciences cannot be truly and fully
grasped unless the scientist becomes philosophical about them.
Likewise, the issues involved the philosophy cannot be understood in
their ultimate causes unless the philosopher becomes scientific about
them.
For example, we talk about history or anthropology, and we go back to
the first man and his origin. Or about any of the sciences and we go
back to beginnings and extensions and infinities. When we look into
behavioral sciences, we are looking at man’s aspirations and
necessarily, at ultimate ends. Hence, when we deal with sciences we
deal with philosophy. So that the true philosopher is also a scientist,
and the true scientist is also a philosopher

Science as Object of the Intellect

More specifically philosophy looks into the objects of man’s

faculties- his intellect in search of truth or knowledge and his will
probing into the good brings us to the various disciplines of man’s
learning these may be classified on the basis of the degree of mental
abstraction according to which the various disciplines are categorized:
first degree of abstraction, that is abstracting from corporeal properties
and arriving t quantity: and the third degree of abstraction, that I
abstracting from corporeal properties and arriving at quantity; and
third degree of abstraction, that is abstracting from quantity and
arriving the concept of being

First Degree of Abstraction

To abstract from individuality I to ignore the individual

differences among objects and consider them together as a group or as
a class, or better still, as a species, looking for what is common among
them. What remains or what is considered are the common corporeal
aspects. For example, when we ask what a table is in general., we do
not look at the individual characteristics of one table ,or of a number of
tables, but of all tables. We look at what is common among the, and
find that they are in general made up of a material surface supported
by, and standing on legs .In other words ,we see their material or
corporeal aspects which are seen as common among them.

Further questions on this level of abstraction would go into the

material of which a thing in its class made of, it’s origin, the extent, of
its material existence and the like. All physical sciences belong to this
level or degree of abstraction. Cosmology, for instance, is the study of
the physical universe in a general way, delving into the issues of what
the world and the other spatial bodies are made of, how far space
extends, how much if this space is filled with spatial bodies, when the
universe began and when it will end. Geography is more specific, and so
are astronomy, paleontology, mineralogy, and the like.

At this level, the intellect is assisted by the external senses in its

appreciation of reality, since basically, nothing is in the intellect which is
not first in the sense.

Second Degree of Abstraction. To abstract from corporeal or

physical properties is to look at mere quantities and dimensions,
looking beyond the material components of a table, we see that it has
dimensions: length, width, breadth, or thickness and weight

These are mere quantities or magnitude and therefore border on

the abstract since the physical composition is ignored. Mathematics
and all other quantitative disciplines like statistics and physics (insofar
as physics considers magnitude and not the body of physical objects)
belong to this level of abstraction. What is considered are there
magnitude, their relationship whether in plain numbers or in points,
lines planes and bodiless volumes in space, again as these magnitudes
are perceived by the mind as existing in reality.
 Third Degree of Abstraction. To abstract from individuality and
corporeal properties is to look at the most basic concept of a thing.
Forget about the materials at the most basic concept of a thing. Forget
about the material and the shape and weight and color of a table and
what you have you got left? Do the same with any other thing, and all
other things. Nothing will be left but the fact that they are beings or
things in the abstract. They exist. They are beings.

Metaphysic, which means “above the physical level”, deals with

being as it is perceived by the mind as existing I reality or in a real thing.
Universals are the object of study or metaphysics, like quantity as
quantity, that is, devoid of specific numerical magnitudes. Quality as
quality likewise is universal.

When metaphysics deals with being as being abstracted from

reality, the field of study is known as ontology. When metaphysics deals
with being as ideas, the discipline Is known as logic which deals with
how the intellect apprehends ideas (simple apprehension),relates them
to another ( judgment) and forms conclusions from their relationship
(rationalization). The subject (ideas) are purely in the mind, and the
process is some sort of an intellectual exercise perfecting the mind in
the apprehension, classification and analysis of ideas and their
consequences as true or false.

Science as Object of the Will

The object of the will is good or goodness, in the same way that
the object of the intellect is true or truth. So that when we say that
every agent (person) tends towards an end, that end is food. But since
the good in every act is both objective good (the goodness in the
consequence perceived by the individual),there arises a question of
choice on the part of the person. A person’s acts pertaining to his
choice constitute his moral behavior. The study of that moral behavior
on the specific aspects of the quality of human acts, that is, the morality
of human acts is ethics.

Morality in sense is more particular field of study which looks at

the act as to whether it is good or bad. Ethics thus become a broader
field which studies morality itself. Moreover, morality looks at an act as
it relates to the individual in his relationship with others, in which case
we say that, an individual act as to its impact on the group or his
profession or society in general. In which case, we say that the act, say,
a doctor, or a lawyer is ethical or unethical. Psychology and other social
and behavioral sciences also consider the objects of the will as their
fields of study, insofar as they concerned with how a person or group
behaves and why.

Philosophy and Art

A there are similarities and differences between philosophy and

science, and between science and art, there are also similarities and
differences between philosophy and art. Both of them, philosophy and
art, look at reality and experience. In fact, both of them look at
everything as realities. They interpret, appreciate and enjoy realities
and experience. However, they differ in this, that philosophy looks at
reality as reality in its various aspects, as being or as entities, either as
pure beings, qualitative entities or corporeal substances. Art on the
other hand, looks at realities in their aesthetic perspective. Philosophy
treats life in terms of truth and principles; art sees life as an expression
of life. Philosophy is concerned with ethical values as a part of its
discipline; art is not concerned with such ethical values but rather treat
its subject as much as for sake of art, that is, act for the arts sake. But
the philosopher in understanding the basic realities of things which he
then interprets in terms of colors, dimension and expressions.

Pure and Applied Philosophy

The division of philosophy into logical philosophy natural philosophy

and moral philosophy was first introduced by Plato, adopted by
Aristotle and became commonly accepted bot other philosophers.
Recent philosophers then divided philosophy into theoretical
philosophy and practical philosophy.

From the various degrees of abstraction, we can readily see that

philosophy may deal with ideas either purely in the mind or abstracted
by the mind from reality. Thus is pure philosophy whose objective is to
perfect the mind. It includes logic, ontology, epistemology, and the like.
There are likewise fields of philosophy or fields derived from philosophy

Which look into specific aspects of the universe (e.g., astronomy,

aerospace technology),of life9psychology, medicine biology and other
behavioral sciences),of society (sociology, anthropology, business),and
of values ( axiology or the study of values whether political ,economic,
social, etc.) They constitute the major field of practical or applied
philosophy. These fields of applied philosophy are the rationalization of
such academic degrees as Ph.D. in Psychology, Ph.D. in Economics,
Ph.D. in commerce, Ph.D. in education to name few. Philosophy of
Business is one specific field of applied philosophy which includes
philosophical concepts, ethical principles and social responsibility.
Specific business concepts would include the fundamental principles of
industry (production), commerce, (marketing) and business
management.

The Questions of Philosophy

Briefly, the philosophical questions could be stated as follows:

1. What is real? Where does it exist, how does it exist, and what is
the nature or mode of existence? Or what is the reality of the
universe we live in? Reality as ideas in the mind is addressed by
logic. Reality as being both in the mind and outside the mind,
abstracted from physical matter or corporeality and quantity, is
in the realm of metaphysics. Reality as quantity abstracted
from physical matter is within the scope of physics and
mathematics. Reality In its casualty is expressed in terms of its
philosophical causes: formal, material, efficient and final.
2. How does the mind know what is real? And that ‘is how
objective is man’s knowledge of reality. These issues’ are in the
realm of epistemology..
3. How do realities provide normal for human behavior? That is,
how should people relate to realities and draw from them a
value system for the society. These are addressed by practical
philosophy in its methodology or substantive realities of its
various disciplines, as well as in its axiological interpretations of
these practical realities. Ethics, Politics, Economics, Social
 Sciences, Culture, Technology and Geo-Ecological investigations
are some examples.

Sourcing Philosophical Principles

There are 2 methods of drawing philosophical principles

a. A Priori or deductively, that is invoking a general or universal

principle and applying it to particular or specific case.
b. A Posteriori, or inductively, that is, studying particular cases,
observing what I common among the, and obtaining a general
conclusion or principle about them.

Universal principles (a priori) may apply to particular or individual

case either with certainty or with probability. For example, when we
say that the universal principle: “a person cannot be in two places at
the same time,” it applies with certainty to all persons. No one can be
in one place and at the same time be in another place. It is also certain
that the legal defense of alibi has acquitted many suspects in criminal
cases. That is, if a suspect is in a place other than the scene of the crime
at the same time of the crime, how could he have been in that scene to
commit the crime?

But when we say that as a matter of general principle: “heavy

smokers develop lung cancer”, we are not talking about the universal
principle. First, it does not refer to all heavy smokers. Second, heavy
smoking and lung cancer are not absolutely correlated, because
statistics show that5 not all heavy smokers develop lung cancer.

A posteriori sources of principles, on the other hand, are always a

matter of probability, because it is impossible to gather an absolutely
total population to arrive at an absolute generalization. Statistical
populations are often limited. And therefore even static\stics generally
resort to samples of populations, whose members are not completely
homogenous.

Conceptualizing the Philosophy of Business

Business is a science and an art in its own right. As a structure, it

has its body of principles and theories scientifically ordered. In that
sense, business and its various fields of operations. The concept of
productions, marketing and management, in particular, involve
principles and laws.

As a process, business has its policies, strategies practices and

artifacts which requires both intellectual and manipulative skills to put
them in their proper perspective. In this sense, business is an art.
Designs of products and their presentation strategies which range from
simple to the sophisticated are clear marks of art. Management
processes are exercises at how best and how most productively and
profitably things can be done, and they belong to the world of art.

Being a science and art, business has its own philosophy. Business is
a philosophy. It looks for the ultimate causes of the immediate objects
of the business act. The product, for example which is the immediate
object of the production process, is the subject of further analysis in
terms of the ultimate objective of satisfying human needs which in turn
goes further into the objective of creating quality of life and quality of
society.

Business goes by a priori and a posteriori principles. When we say

that the customer is a human being and therefore must be treated as
such, we are invoking an a priori principle that man has a human dignity
inherent in his nature by virtue of his creation in the image of God. On
the other hand, when the businessman assesses the customer needs
within his area of operations, he determines what the common need of
his target market is and thus makes a generalization. That is an a
posteriori premise.

The Ultimate Causes of Business

With the definition of Philosophy as the framework, Philosophy of

Business may be viewed descriptively as the totality of the concepts
developed by business thinkers; and essentially as “the study of the
nature of business in its ultimate causes.” The consequences of these
concepts will lead to an exposition of the four causes:

1. Formal Cause
2. Material Cause
3. Efficient Cause
4. Final Cause