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(which "make" nothing in any direct sense, but are surely a
sine qua non
of
any particular design), and final in human desires, for the house would not be
built unless someone wanted to live in it. We have, today, pretty much
restricted our definition of cause to the pushers and shovers of efficient
causation. We would still allow that houses can't be built without substances
and plans, but we no longer refer to these material and formal aspects as
causes. We have, however, explicitly abandoned the idea of final cause for
inanimate objects—and this rejection ranks as, perhaps, the major change in
scientific methodology between Hutton's time and ours. We cannot
understand Hutton until we recover his concept of final cause as a
centerpiece of explanation.
We still speak of final cause for objects built with evident goals by human
consciousness. We also permit a vernacular meaning of purpose in describing
the adaptations of organisms, though a marlin does not strive consciously for
hydrodynamic efficiency. But we have rigidly abjured any idea of final cause
for inanimate objects, and we judge nothing more amusing or antiquated than
previous attributions of purpose made in human terms—the moon shines so
that we do not stumble at night, or oranges grow in sections so that we may
easily divide them. We smile at Aristotle when he proposes both an efficient
and a final cause for earthquakes: "It thunders both because there must be a
hissing and roaring as the [earth's internal] fire is extinguished, and also (as
the Pythagoreans hold) to threaten the souls in Tartarus and make them
fear" (
Organon, Posterior Analytics,
94b, 1.34). Our laughter surely
represents an inappropriate approach to history, but it does express the
profundity of our change in attitude.
We cannot grasp the basis of Hutton's cyclical theory until we understand his
commitment to final cause as a necessary ingredient of any explanation. In
introducing his first treatise, Hutton says of the earth: "We perceive a fabric
erected in wisdom, to obtain a purpose worthy of the power that is apparent
in the production of
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