Efficient Causation in Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern Philosophy

A stone does not warm itself in the sun, a child is not self-begotten, and, as many have argued, the cosmos did not spring into existence from nothing. How do these changes come to be? The efficient cause is that from which a change or motion originates, as distinct from the matter it acts upon, the form it produces, or the end it serves. Over the centuries, this framework was adopted and adapted across physics, metaphysics, theology, and law. According to some, efficient causation is often said to be the only one of Aristotle's four causes to survive largely intact into modern thought: when we speak of ‘causation’ today, we typically mean efficient causation alone. 

This conference is the third instalment in the Society for the European History of Ideas' series on the Four Aristotelian Causes, which will examine developments in thinking about efficient causation from the Ancient Greek, Latin Western, and Arabic philosophical traditions from antiquity to early modernity.

Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be submitted on the website no later than 23:59 (11:59) PST, 15 January. Applicants will be notified about the committee's decision within 2 months of the deadline.

Application is open to all and especially encouraged for early-career philosophers and those from underrepresented groups in academia.