The Four Causes of ADHD: Aristotle in the Classroom

Abstract

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is one of the most well-established and at the same time controversial disorders to the extreme of being placed in doubt. In the first of two parts, the established position is critically reviewed, beginning with showing fallacious reasoning on which the diagnosis is based, lacking clinical proof. Similarly, a certain rhetoric and metaphysics in genetic and neurobiological research is highlighted, where, for example, a meager accumulation of data is offered as robust conclusions, and correlates and correlations as causes and bases. However, that may be, the controversy is silenced in a dialog of the deaf between “defenders” and “critics.” with no way out in sight in empirical and scientific terms. A new meta-scientific position is necessary to analyze the science of ADHD itself and its social uses. In this respect, the second part introduces Aristotle’s four causes, material, formal, efficient, final, as an instrument of enquiry. According to this analysis, ADHD is not the pretended clinical entity as presented, but a practical entity providing a variety of functions. The implications would be rather different from the usual.

Ontology-based Why-Question Analysis Using Lexico-Syntactic Patterns

“…Furthermore, there are four types of causes (i.e., Aristotle four causes) including, the material, the formal, the efficient, and the final cause. The material cause is about what a thing is made of, the formal cause about its form or what it is, the efficient cause about who made it or how it came to be what it is, and the final cause about what a thing is made for or what its purpose is [1], [27]. Alvarez stated that the efficient cause is what most people think of as cause [27].…”

“…The material cause is about what a thing is made of, the formal cause about its form or what it is, the efficient cause about who made it or how it came to be what it is, and the final cause about what a thing is made for or what its purpose is [1], [27]. Alvarez stated that the efficient cause is what most people think of as cause [27]. On the other words, the efficient cause is relating to the reason clause, and the final cause relating to the purpose clause.…”

Reconstructing truth, deconstructing ADHD: Badiou, onto-epistemological violence and the diagnosis of ADHD

“…(This principle is applied from this point on and until otherwise indicated.) An additional remark is that the diagnosis of 'ADHD' is based on a variety of logical errorsa significant example being the circular logic where the observed behaviour is explained by means of the neuropsychiatric diagnosis as a theoretical construct, and vice versa (Lindstrøm, 2012;Pérez-Álvarez, 2017;Tait, 2009).…”

The Rise of Policy Coherence for Development: A Multi-Causal Approach

“…McKelvey, 2004;Pérez Álvarez, 2009;Sunday, Eyles, & Upshur, 2001), but to our knowledge applications in the field of development studies are missing. For these reasons, the least one can say is that the Aristotle approach offers a potentially fruitful avenue for research.…”