Rothenberg's Arguments And Summary

7. David Rothenberg focuses on Aristotle’s objection to his position. Aristotle defines the cause of nature in four separate ways: material cause, formal cause, efficient cause, and final cause. These four separate causes cast nature as the omnipresent, enveloping cause of everything in the universe. Consequently, Aristotle does not set any limitation to nature and its causes. Nature becomes the cause of nature in absolute. Thus, Aristotle presents a fallacy of a circular argument. By claiming that nature causes nature, he supports his claim with the exact same premise. Rothenberg examines this fallacy as he refutes this idea by responding to this objection.
8. In response to Aristotle’s objections, Rothenberg examines each cause within the