DOI: 10.1515/agph-2026-0029 ISSN: 0003-9101
On the Status of Aristotle’s Principle of Causal Synonymy
Landon HobbsAbstract
It is clear that Aristotle is committed to some sort of efficient-causal like-causes-like principle, what is commonly referred to as Aristotle’s Principle of Causal Synonymy. It is less clear what sort of principle this is: should we think of it more like a metaphysical law or more like an empirical generalization? I argue for the former, or high status, view of the principle against the latter, or low status, view. I do this by breaking down what I call high and low status into three axes and arguing that the textual evidence supports high status along all three axes.