final cause

noun

noun

Human sciences, Philosophy, Science, Sciences Natural The purpose, goal, or end fulfilled by a thing.

In the production of a statue of Athena for the Parthenon, the bronze is the material cause; the shape and design of the statue is the formal cause; the sculptor is the efficient cause; the honor of the goddess (and the glory of Athens) is the final cause.1998, R. J. Schork, Greek and Hellenic Culture in Joyce, →ISBN, page 176:

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