Formal cause

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	the elements of a conception which make the conception or the thing conceived to be what it is; or the idea viewed as a formative principle and coöperating with the matter.
	See under Cause.

See also: Cause Formal

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cause

formal

The four causes are: the material cause (for example, water, oil, bread, and wine); the formal cause (the precise words of the minister); the efficient cause (the role of the priest); and the final cause (the conferral of grace).

Bread & wine: what's essential to the Eucharist? by Osborne, Kenan B. / Commonweal

Formal cause refers to a pattern or an organization in the components comprising a whole or in the flow of events (Rychlak, 1977).

Systems theory and its application to research on human sexuality by Myers-Bowman, Karen S. / The Journal of Sex Research

If form means active information shaping a coherent entity over time, the genetic information we inherit provides our human form; it is our formal cause.

ARE `PRE-EMBRYOS' HUMAN? by CALLAHAN, SIDNEY / Commonweal

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