first cause
Noun
Meaning
an agent that is the cause of all things but does not itself have a cause
Source: WordNetSynonyms
Hypernyms
Examples
God is the first cause
By simply denying that an efficient first cause is problematic, being easily explained as the creative action of an omnipotent God, medieval theologians re-purposed and enhanced Aristotle's argument, as if the intention had been to prove God's existence.
Being responsible for one's choices is the first cause of those choices, where first cause means that there is no antecedent cause of that cause.
God, therefore, is the first cause, Who moves causes both natural and voluntary.
Rejecting mythological and divine explanations, he sought a single first cause or Arche (origin or beginning) under which all phenomena could be explained, and concluded that this first cause was in fact moisture or water.
This form of the argument is far more difficult to separate from a purely first cause argument than is the example of the house's maintenance above, because here the First Cause is insufficient without the candle's or vessel's continued existence.