Efficient causation – The Analytic Thomist

Defending Universal Causation

The argument for an uncausable First Cause sketched in earlier posts relies on a principle of Universal Causation. The principle of Universal Causation is a fundamental principle of reason. As such, its truth cannot be demonstrated from more fundamental principles. However, I can argue for the principle dialectically, pointing out the unacceptably high price ofContinue reading “Defending Universal Causation”

The Anti-Regress Argument for a First Cause

This is the first of two new arguments for a first cause. Check out an earlier post that contains the relevant definitions. Therefore, everything in the universe is caused by one or more strictly uncausable things. Consequently, there is a plurality of one or more strictly uncausable things (the First Cause) that jointly causes theContinue reading “The Anti-Regress Argument for a First Cause”

Some New Arguments for a First Cause

I’m going to start a new series of posts in which I present some of my most recent thoughts on the classic First Cause arguments. In this post, I will lay out some explications and definitions for some key terms that will appear in my arguments. Some of the terms are so fundamental that theyContinue reading “Some New Arguments for a First Cause”

Mental Causation: Non-Rational Animals

It’s relatively easy to see how mental causation, both active and passive, would work on the interactionist model. We can simply apply our usual assumptions about per se efficient causal powers. What is more interesting is to work out how such causation could happen on the two emanationist models. To keep things relatively simple, let’sContinue reading “Mental Causation: Non-Rational Animals”

Two Models of The Soul

Here is a major choice point: is the soul part of the whole substance (the human person or organism) or not? What does it mean for something to be part of some whole? Or, equivalently, what does it mean for something to be a whole composed of certain parts? I propose the following necessary conditionContinue reading “Two Models of The Soul”