formal cause

formal cause (plural formal causes)

1. (philosophy, natural science) The design, pattern, or pure concept of a thing, which gives form or structure to its matter.
   • 1998, R. J. Schork, Greek and Hellenic Culture in Joyce, →ISBN, page 176:

     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.

• One of the four kinds of causes recognized in Aristotelianism: material cause, formal cause, efficient cause, final cause.

• “formal cause”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.