Chapter 2 Section 2 quiz

Martin Cothran in his article, “Four Questions You Can Ask about Anything,” explains formal cause in the following way: “Formal Cause: We say that formal cause involves asking what kind of thing something is. The formal cause, in other words, determines the form or shape of a thing. Let us now reconsider our original question. The formal cause of a thing is that thing’s nature or essence, the metaphysical pattern of a thing. It is that element of a thing that determines most fundamentally what it is.” In Section II of Chapter 2 of The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains,, Nicholas Carr discusses “the form or shape of a thing” beginning in paragraph nine. What is being defined in paragraph nine and the following paragraphs? How does this definition lay a foundation for the rest of Carr’s book, and why is it important to understand this basic definition before embarking on an argument about the effects of the Internet?