it might be coming to rest at the bottom. Often the final cause is confused with a purpose, or intention, but this is not the case, since a purpose is the effect wanted for a thing by a person, whereas Aristotle thought of ends as always present, ungiven, and always good.

The four "causes" are not mutually exclusive. For Aristotle, several, preferably four, answers to the question "why" have to be given to explain a phenomenon and especially the actual configuration of an object. For example, if asking why a table is such and such, an