Aristotle understood physics as equivalent to what would now be called "natural philosophy," or the study of nature (physis); in this sense it encompasses not only the modern field of physics but also biology, chemistry, geology, psychology, and even meteorology. Although Aristotle never uses the word "metaphysics" - it first appeared in the posthumous catalog of his writings as a name for the works listed after the Physics - he does recognize the branch of philosophy now called metaphysics, which he calls it "first philosophy."

Although Aristotle's system makes room for forms, they differ significantly from forms as Plato conceived them. For Aristotle, the form of a particular thing is not separate (chorista) from the thing itself - any form is the form of something. In Aristotle's physics, form is always paired with matter, and the paradigm examples of forms are those of material substances.

When a thing comes into being, neither its matter nor its form is created. But the fact that the forms of things are not created does not mean that they must exist independently of matter, outside space and time, as Plato maintained. The bronze sphere derives its shape not from an ideal Sphere but from its maker, who introduces form into the appropriate matter in the process of his work. Likewise, Socrates' humanity derives not from an ideal Human but from his parents, who introduce form into the appropriate matter when they conceive him.

In several places Aristotle distinguishes four types of cause, or explanation. First, he says, there is that of which and out of which a thing is made, such as the bronze of a statue. This is called the material cause. Second, there is the form or pattern of a thing, which may be expressed in its definition; Aristotle's example is the proportion of the length of two strings in a lyre, which is the formal cause of one note's being the octave of another. The third type of cause is the origin of a change or state of rest in something; this is often called the "efficient cause." Aristotle gives as examples a person reaching a decision, a father begetting a child, a sculptor carving a statue, and a doctor healing a patient. The fourth and last type of cause is the end or goal of a thing - that for the sake of which a thing is done. This is known as the "final cause." . . .

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