(in Aristotelian thought) the matter or substance which constitutes a thing.
〔哲〕（亚里士多德哲学）质料因
Example sentencesExamples
Furthermore, whatever there is must have pre-existed in its material cause, as material causes cannot create something other than what is there in the first place.
The middle term, ‘made of bronze’, expresses the cause of the statue's being, for example, malleable; and because bronze is the constituent stuff of the statue the cause here is the material cause.
A cause in this sense has been traditionally called a material cause, although Aristotle himself did not use this label.
The four aspects are the formal cause, the material cause, the efficient cause, and the final cause.
One is the material cause or matter, the physical make-up of the thing, which puts considerable restrictions on what it can be and do.
Definition of material cause in US English:
material cause
noun
Philosophy
(in Aristotelian thought) the matter or substance which constitutes a thing.
〔哲〕（亚里士多德哲学）质料因
Example sentencesExamples
The four aspects are the formal cause, the material cause, the efficient cause, and the final cause.
A cause in this sense has been traditionally called a material cause, although Aristotle himself did not use this label.
One is the material cause or matter, the physical make-up of the thing, which puts considerable restrictions on what it can be and do.
The middle term, ‘made of bronze’, expresses the cause of the statue's being, for example, malleable; and because bronze is the constituent stuff of the statue the cause here is the material cause.
Furthermore, whatever there is must have pre-existed in its material cause, as material causes cannot create something other than what is there in the first place.