For what every being is in its most perfect state, that certainly is the nature of that being, whether it be a man, a horse, or a house: besides, whatsoever produces the final cause and the end which we
1253a] desire, must be best; but a government complete in itself is that final cause and what is best.
Browning might say, as his wife said in an early preface, I never mistook pleasure for the
final cause of poetry, nor leisure for the hour of the poet--as indeed he has himself said, to much the same effect, in a letter printed many years ago: I never pretended to offer such literature as should be a substitute for a cigar or a game at dominoes to an idle man.
He might dissect, anatomize, and give names; but, not to speak of a
final cause, causes in their secondary and tertiary grades were utterly unknown to him.
The IDEA of good likewise disappears and is superseded by the conception of a personal God, who works according to a
final cause or principle of goodness which he himself is.
It is now commonly admitted that the more immediate and
final cause of the cuckoo's instinct is, that she lays her eggs, not daily, but at intervals of two or three days; so that, if she were to make her own nest and sit on her own eggs, those first laid would have to be left for some time unincubated, or there would be eggs and young birds of different ages in the same nest.
The Professor's indignation found in itself a
final cause that absolved him from the sin of turning to destruction as the agent of his ambition.
It has occurred to me," said Arthur, "as a curious problem in Teleology-- the Science of
Final Causes," he added, in answer to an enquiring look from Lady Muriel.
There is no evidence that either the idea of good or the conception of a perfect State were comprehended in the Socratic teaching, though he certainly dwelt on the nature of the universal and of
final causes (cp.
Considered, indeed, in relation to the latter, whose mied was matured, she was altogether a mistake, and calculated to shock his trust in
final causes, including the adaptation of fine young women to purplefaced bachelors.
It was also noted that
final cause of the fire could not be ascertained yet.
However, the end of the report states that a
final cause of fire could not yet be ascertained.
