Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
(a)
(b)
A
C
A
C
E
G
G
B
D
B
D
F
F
E
Figure 6
Linear (a) and wheel (b) fabrication hierarchies.
the factory becomes more autonomous. We can easily extend the hierarchies in
Fig. 5 indefinitely (Fig. 6 shows examples of such extensions). It is left to the
reader to imagine hierarchies that are mixtures of these two motifs.
Starting with Fig. 4e, and even more so with Figs. 5 and 6, the clean
differentiation between hardware and software that obtained in Fig. 3 has become
obscured. For example, C, which in Fig. 4 was unambiguously the hardware for
software A, has itself become in Fig. 5a the software for E, a higher level of
hardware. In addition, hardware C is now seemingly fabricated from its own
'software'. Clearly in Fig. 5a the distinction between hardware and software has
been lost and it has become meaningless to discuss the factory in these terms.
However, Aristotelean language comes to the rescue, as follows: Consider in
turn each object in the complicated situation of Fig. 5 a:
•
Why A? A functions as material cause for B (A's final cause).
•
Why B? B is made from A (its material cause) by C (its efficient cause), and
it functions as material cause for C (B's final cause).
•
Why C? C is made from B (its material cause) by D (its efficient cause), and
it functions as efficient cause for B and as material cause for D (C's two final
causes).
•
Why D? D is made from C (its material cause) by E (its efficient cause), and
it functions as efficient cause for C (D's final cause).
•
Why E? E functions as the efficient cause for D (E's final cause).
The beauty of this analysis is that it provides a way of soothing the bugbear of
final cause. Consider, for instance, 'why C?' In Fig. 5a, there are ostensibly four
answers to this question, but upon closer inspection there are only two: 'because
B' and 'because D'; in both cases a final cause of C has become identified with
either material or efficient cause of C: on the one hand, C functions as fabricator
of B, which itself is the material cause for C; on the other hand, C functions as
the material cause for its own fabricator, D. The final causes for C have been
absorbed into the system.
Thus far, however, there has always still been one fabricator which cannot be
replaced or repaired from within the system; one final cause that has not been
internalised. If this fabricator fails, it would cause a domino effect down the
