first cause
2
9.9
- noun
- /fɜrst kɔz/
- Formal
:
primera causa
- Aquinas' writings on the first cause emphasize the need for a necessary being that is the origin of all other beings.
- first cause of all things
There has to be some first 'cause, and this is what we call God.
- There has to be some first 'cause, and this is what we call God.
- If you take away, as Thomas says, the first 'cause in the series, then the middle cause doesn't happen and the final effect doesn't happen, right?
Examples
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And this leads us ultimately, he says, to posit the existence of God, who is, so to speak, the first cause of all things.
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Start talking about the first 'cause of the way the universe came to be, what was there first?
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There has to be some first 'cause, and this is what we call God.
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At least when we're starting with God as the first cause, it seems that everything else that happens makes sense.
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His main reason for believing in God is because of Aquinas's first cause argument.
Blog text (14) -
One of the many problems with the assertion that God was the first cause is the problem of infinite regress.
Blog text (28) -
In philosophy, many scholars argue that God is the first cause of all existence.
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The concept of a first cause suggests an uncaused agent that initiated everything in the universe.
Synonyms
123
7.0
A name people use for God, the being who made everything
1
9.9
A first being people think starts everything, often the God of some religions
A being that starts all motion and has no cause itself
How Fundamental
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally combines 'first' (initial/preceding) and 'cause' (reason or origin), so a B1 learner who knows both words can likely infer it refers to an initial or original cause. However, the full philosophical/theological nuances — an uncaused ultimate agent often identified with God — go beyond straightforward composition and require background knowledge, so the expression is only partially predictable.
Etymology
First cause shows the simple image of a first thing that is the cause of everything else: imagine the very first action that starts a long chain. So the phrase means the one start that is not caused by anything else, often thought of as God.