This problem involves the following question: why should man ever desire to know the causes if the type of knowledge that they involve is not made for him? It is because man can grow in perfection by knowing the causes; indeed, knowing the causes is an act of the essence of man. Yet this statement opens up a series of problems. What is the essence of man, what is his ultimate perfection, what is the act whose realization leads to the final perfection of his essence? Nevertheless, given that man is part of the world, if one wishes to know the end of man and his activity he must first know the world in its totality. The four causes of the world in its totality and in each of its individual parts which must be sought are the what it is, the how it is, the what it is from, and the what is it for.