All men are in constant search for a rational explanation of something. Aristotle, although not the first person, spent a great amount of time researching the world in order to obtain a firm grasp and understanding of why a thing exists and why it is as it is. He reviewed and built upon the study of many of his ancestors and was convinced that one must take hold of knowledge of the causes that originate things (since that is when we say we know each thing, when we think we know its first cause). (Metaphysics 983a) Aristotles position on the concept of causes explains why he developed his theory of the four causes, which remain today with little opposition. Aristotle was convinced there were four causes, and he understood that each of the four causes were necessary to explain the causes that originate things. Aristotles first cause refers to thinghood, or what it is for something to be (Metaphysics 983a). The source out of what a thing is made. For example, a bed, the source might be wood; for a statue, the source might be bronze. Another, or second cause, is the material or underlying thing (Metaphysics 983a). The material cause is formal shape of the object or the pattern which the object or thing takes. The material cause is what we recognize the thing to be. For example, the bed that is made of wood or the statute made of bronze. Aristotles third cause, or efficient cause, is that from which the source of motion is (Metaphysics 983a). The efficient cause is the way in which the source is moved from a state of potentiality to actuality. For example, the source that moved the wood into the bed may be an artisan, or the source that moved the bronze into the statute a sculptor. The final or fourth cause, as well as the most important cause to Aristotle, is the cause opposite to that one, that for the sake of which or the good (since it is the completion of every coming-into-being and motion) (Metaphysics 983a). The f