Aristotle, Metaphysics

[1014a] [1] And the universal terms which include accidents are causes; e.g., the cause of a statue is a man, or even, generally, an animal; because Polyclitus is a man, and man is an animal.And even of accidental causes some are remoter or more proximate than others; e.g., the cause of the statue might be said to be "white man" or "cultured man," and not merely "Polyclitus" or "man."

And besides the distinction of causes as proper and accidental , some are termed causes in a potential and others in an actual sense; e.g., the cause of building is either the builder or the builder who builds.And the same distinctions in meaning as we have already described will apply to the effects of the causes; e.g. to this statue, or a statue, or generally an image; and to this bronze, or bronze, or generally material.¹ And it is the same with accidental effects. Again, the proper and accidental senses will be combined; e.g., the cause is neither "Polyclitus" nor "a sculptor" but "the sculptor Polyclitus."

However, these classes of cause are in all six in number, each used in two senses. Causes are (1.) particular, (2.) generic, (3.) accidental, (4.) generically accidental; and these may be either stated singly or (5, 6) in combination²; [20] and further they are all either actual or potential.And there is this difference between them, that actual and particular causes coexist or do not coexist with their effects (e.g. this man giving medical treatment with this man recovering his health, and this builder with this building in course of erection); but potential causes do not always do so; for the house and the builder do not perish together.

"Element" means (a) the primary immanent thing, formally indivisible into another form, of which something is composed. E.g., the elements of a sound are the parts of which that sound is composed and into which it is ultimately divisible, and which are not further divisible into other sounds formally different from themselves. If an element be divided, the parts are formally the same as the whole: e.g., a part of water is water; but it is not so with the syllable.(b) Those who speak of the elements of bodies similarly mean the parts into which bodies are ultimately divisible, and which are not further divisible into other parts different in form. And whether they speak of one such element or of more than one, this is what they mean.(c) The term is applied with a very similar meaning to the "elements" of geometrical figures, and generally to the "elements" of demonstrations; for the primary demonstrations which are contained in a number of other demonstrations