I argue that for Plato, speaking generally, causes are powers to make [something in the world] different (Sophist 247e1). Plato conception of causes as difference-makers enables him to then classify as causes both, Forms in the World of Being and things in the World of Becoming. However, although the role of both these types of entity, the Forms and sensible things, is causal, they are two thoroughly different kinds of difference-makers: Forms are difference-makers constitutively; while sensible things are difference-makers efficiently.
This lecture was given on Thu, 1 July 2021, 10:50 (UK time) as part of the workshop Change and Changemakers in Ancient Philosophy. The workshop is a collaborative initiative of the Change and Changemakers Network (Siegen) together with the Mereology of Potentiality Project (Oxford).