A supposed ultimate cause of all events, which does not itself have a cause, identified with God.
〔哲〕第一推动因，第一原因
Example sentencesExamples
In Suarez's view, God was the same kind of being his creatures are, only infinite rather than finite in scale; the First Cause was the same kind of cause as a worldly cause, only first.
As an alternative, deism posited an impersonal First Cause whose rationality is reflected in physical laws and human intellect, and lauded the exercise of virtue and reason as the truest form of worship.
Subsequently, those who sought to use Aristotle's philosophical scheme for theological purposes usually added an additional First Cause to the four Aristotelian Causes.
I sat in on a lesson about Thomas Aquinas where 14-year-olds in a London comprehensive discussed his theory of the proof of God's existence from the argument of First Causes.
In a characteristic move he finds pagan parallels to the Christian truth that all of reality derives originally from some First Cause.
Definition of First Cause in US English:
First Cause
noun
Philosophy
A supposed ultimate cause of all events, which does not itself have a cause, identified with God.
〔哲〕第一推动因，第一原因
Example sentencesExamples
As an alternative, deism posited an impersonal First Cause whose rationality is reflected in physical laws and human intellect, and lauded the exercise of virtue and reason as the truest form of worship.
Subsequently, those who sought to use Aristotle's philosophical scheme for theological purposes usually added an additional First Cause to the four Aristotelian Causes.
In Suarez's view, God was the same kind of being his creatures are, only infinite rather than finite in scale; the First Cause was the same kind of cause as a worldly cause, only first.
I sat in on a lesson about Thomas Aquinas where 14-year-olds in a London comprehensive discussed his theory of the proof of God's existence from the argument of First Causes.
In a characteristic move he finds pagan parallels to the Christian truth that all of reality derives originally from some First Cause.