Making a Causal Contextualization with the Four Causes of Aristotle

Abstract

This article presents an empirical study which proposes a chained contextualization based on the four causes of Aristotle: material, formal, moving and final ones. This contextualization is a causal one, dedicated to help an analyst looking for root causes of a problem or an unwanted event. It consists of four different chains of causes beginning by the problem or the event and ending by root causes. A “why” question is asked at each step of questioning. Two examples are studied: “Why is this part brittle?” and “Why is this valve opened?”. An Aristotelian causal contextualization aims at helping an analyst to deepen the chains of causes and to extend the range of causes which can be identified with a traditional method. Then, the first main interest of an Aristotelian causal contextualization is to help an analyst to see, during an interview, the field of responses of the interviewee and to detect responses which stay on the same “plateau” of explanation (reformulations of symptoms or causes, or description of different steps of an activity). Moreover, since the Aristotelian causal contextualization permits to see the kind of field of causality which is used by an interviewee, it is possible to guide him more easily in other fields of causality by using appropriate questions related to other fields of responses. It is the second main interest of this contextualization.