In the case of a kitchen table, its material cause is the matter out of which it is made (wood), its formal cause is the shape that makes it a table and not something else made of wood, its efficient cause is the agent who shaped the wood (the carpenter), and its final cause is the purpose, end, or goal (telos) for which it was made: providing something for people to put their plates on when they eat. The final cause held a crucial position in what is known as his teleology:
