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Aristotle  Plato's most distinguished pupil to whom we owe the term metaphysics.
Efficient cause  One of Aristotle's four kinds of causes - specifically, the agency that initiates a change, the "doer" of action.
Existence and essence/substance  The first judgment to be made regarding a thing is whether or not it exists, then about its substance and characteristics.
Final cause  One of Aristotle's four kind of causes - specifically, the ultimate purpose for which something happens.
Formal cause  For Aristotle, the form of a thing; that which answers the question What is the thing?
Genus  Aristotle sought to define things by determining how a thing is similar to other things.
Logic  The study of the methods, principles, and criteria of correct reasoning.
Material cause  For Aristotle, the matter or stuff out of which something is made.
Nous  The third soul, or the intelligent or spiritual soul.
Psyche  The soul is the form of the body and that which prevents humans from falling apart.
Realism  The theory that universals exist outside the mind.
Specific difference (or species)  Aristotle sought to define things by determining how a thing is specifically different than other things.
Third Man argument  Aristotle's criticism of Plato's Theory of Forms, according to which there must be a third thing that ties together a form with the particular things that exemplify it.
Universal  That which is denoted by a general word, a word (such as "chair") that applies to more than a single thing.







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