Aristotle's teleology and the doctrine of the four causes

In aristotle's Physics, he presents his teleological theory of nature as comprised of changing materials which are to be understood in terms of the factors that brought them about, particularly their final causes (i.e. the function that they ultimately exist to serve). In his view, wisdom is a special class of knowledge that craftspeople and scientists attain by comprehending the fundamental causes behind the materials they manipulate and observe rather than simply describing their immediately perceptible qualities. This essay will first introduce aristotle's argument for the reality of change taking place in the natural world, in contrast to earlier philosophers who viewed all instances of “change” as the result of inconsistent sensory perceptions.