Word
First Cause
An ultimate explanatory source that does not depend on another cause in the same way as the things it explains
Examples
A first-cause argument asks whether a chain of dependent explanations needs a foundation.
Calling something a first cause does not by itself explain what properties that cause must have.
Origin
The phrase covers a family of philosophical arguments rather than one identical doctrine. Plato's account of a cosmic craftsman, Aristotle's unmoved mover, and later cosmological arguments address related questions in different ways. Their conclusions should not be merged into a single ancient proof.
How it connects
First cause names the search for an explanatory foundation.
This word appeared in Where an explanation stops borrowing, the Involves connection for October 18, 2026, which asked: Does explaining each event explain why the whole chain exists?
Check yourself
Which question most directly concerns a first cause?
Does a system of dependent explanations require a nondependent foundation?. Exactly. The issue is explanatory dependence, not merely chronological ranking.
What the sources establish
Plato's cosmic craftsman is a distinct philosophical account, not interchangeable with other first-cause arguments.
Sources
Timaeus (Plato; Internet Classics Archive), 27d–29d: being, becoming, cause, model, and qualified account
Plato's Timaeus (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), Demiurge, causation, and interpretive controversy