壹、對本文內容、重要性及國內外有關之研究作一簡單介紹。 貳、「原因」與「終極原因」二詞釋義。首先以顯題方式討論終極原因者，當推亞里斯多德之形上學第一書與第二書(prota atitia, 981b28-29, 994a16-20)。「Prota aitia」本來亦可譯為「首先原因」，但因形上學第二書強調不可能有無限回溯之無限多原因，「沒有首先的一個，根本就沒有原因可言」(994a19-20)，因此它就有了「終極」意義。此外，亞氏形上學第五書亦對四種「原因」有詳細剖析。 參、西洋哲學的終極原因（各時代及發展，將與下節一起介紹） 肆、中國哲學的終極原因（各時代及發展） 下面試對以上二節作一綜合介紹： 中國哲學表面上似乎並未如此顯著地討論終極原因。實則，古籍中的天、上帝、太極、道、理、氣等概念都討論了這一問題。本研究不僅將努力把亞里斯多德及後代西方哲學對此問題之討論與中國哲學互相比較，而且設法把二者的若干思想互相融合。許多人以為，中國哲學以終極原因內在說為主，而超越原因之說係舶來品；本研究將指出，中西哲學都有下面二種看法： 一種把終極原因視為超越於宇宙整體以上，如猶太教、基督徒、回教哲學中的上帝，柏拉圖思想中的理型，亞里斯多德的「思想自己的思想」(noesis noeseos)，新柏拉圖思想中的太一，古代中國人心目中的天或上帝，道家思想中的「道」，易傳中的太極等等。 一種把終極原因視為內在於宇宙，古希臘人的地、水、風、火、原子，近代斯比諾撒所云的「上帝即自然」，黑格爾所云一切均係觀念的演變，恩格斯辯証唯物論，都是把終極原因視為內在於宇宙。宋代朱熹所云的理與氣，陸象山所云「宇宙便是吾心，吾心即是宇宙」，以及明代王陽明所云「我的靈明便是天地鬼神的主宰」，都有終極原因內在的意味。 伍、結語把基督徒的上帝觀與中國古代的上帝觀及道家與儒家的「道」加以融合，其餘若干中西哲學思想則加以和合。結語對「融合」與「和合」二詞與以新的釋義。

This is a succinct introduction about the content, important, as well as domestic and foreign studies about ”ultimate cause.” Regarding the interpretations of the two terms, ”cause” and ”ultimate cause,” the first one who discussed the ultimate cause (prota aitia, 981b28-29, 994a16-20) in a revealing way is Aristotle in Book I and Book II of his Metaphysics. Originally, the term could also be translated as the ”first cause; ” yet Book Ⅱ, Metaphysics stresses that it's impossible to trace infinitely to infinite causes. ”There would never be any causes without the first cause” (994a19-20), and the term was then bestowed with the meaning of ultimate. Besides, Book Ⅴ, Metaphysics contains a detailed analysis about four ”causes.” On the other hand, Chinese philosophy seems to refrain from discussing the ultimate cause so overtly. Yet quite a few concepts from the ancient texts-such as Heaven, God, Taichi, Dao, Li, and Chi-actually are somewhat concerned with this issue. In this paper, we first make efforts comparing Aristotle and the succeeding philosophers' related discussion in this respect with the discussion found in Chinese philosophy; then we will assimilate some thoughts from both sides. Many people assume that the doctrine of the immanent ultimate cause is central to Chinese philosophy while the transcendental ultimate cause is something alien. In this article, it's to be pointed that these two doctrines are what both Chinese and western philosophies have in common. One of the doctrines is to see the ultimate cause as something transcendental to the universe, like God in Jewish, Christian, and Islamic philosophies, Idea in Plato's thought, Aristotle's ”thinking of/about thinking” (noesis noeseos), the One in Neo-Platonism, Heaven or God to the ancient Chinese, Dao in Daoism, and Taichi in Yi-Zhuan, etc. Regarding the other doctrine, the ancient Greeks' four elements and atoms, Spinoza's ”God as Nature,” Hegel's seeing all as the evolution of ideas, Engel’s dialectical materialism, all these see the ultimate cause as something immanent to the universe. Ju Xi's doctrine about Li and Qi as well as Lu Xiang-shan's ”the universe as my heart and my heart as the universe” in the Song Dynasty, and Wang Yang-ming's ”my mind as the ruler of heaven and earth, gods and ghosts” are all possessed with the implications of the immanent ultimate cause. We assimilate the Christian idea of God with the ancient Chinese idea of God and the Daoist and Confucian idea of ”Dao, while we harmonize the some other Chinese and western philosophical thoughts. In the conclusion, we interpret both ”assimilation” and ”harmonization” in a brand new way.