Secondary causation
Secondary causation is the philosophical proposition that all material and corporeal objects, having been created by God with their own intrinsic potentialities, are subsequently empowered to evolve independently in accordance with natural law. Traditional Christians would slightly modify this injunction to allow for the occasional miracle as well as the exercise of free will. Deists who deny any divine interference after creation would only accept free will exceptions. That the physical universe is consequentially well-ordered, consistent, and knowable, subject to human observation and reason, was a primary theme of Scholasticism and further molded into the philosophy of the western tradition by Augustine of Hippo and later by Thomas Aquinas.
Secondary causation has been suggested as a necessary precursor for scientific inquiry into an established order of natural laws which are not entirely predicated on the changeable whims of a supernatural being. Nor does this create a conflict between science and religion for, given a creator deity, it is not inconsistent with the paradigm of a clockwork universe. It does not remove logical contradictions concerning the unfettered expression of man’s free will which would otherwise require not just God’s acquiescence but rather his direct intervention to implement.
Second causes, or secondary causation, refers to the various direct, created agencies and events (like human actions or natural processes) that bring about effects, as opposed to the first or primary cause, which is understood as God. These second causes are not independent but are themselves empowered and sustained by the First Cause, operating under the overarching divine decree and natural law to produce effects in the world. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
The Role of Second Causes
- Facilitators of Divine Action: In theological contexts, second causes are the means through which God works to bring about his will, acting as intermediaries rather than the ultimate source of power. [3, 6]
- Visible Agents of Change: They are the immediate, observable factors that contribute to events, such as a human making a decision, a natural process occurring, or a tool being used to build something. [6, 7]
- Real and Important: The existence of second causes does not negate the First Cause; rather, it highlights that God empowers created beings to act and have real causal efficacy in their own right. [8, 9, 10, 11]
Examples
- Building a Table: A person is the primary agent, but the tools (hammer, saw, nails) are second causes that make the building of the table possible. [7]
- Divine Providence: God ordains events to happen through various situations and the “if, then” relationships that constitute secondary causes. For example, the statement in Mark 16:15-16 suggests that if people do not repent, they will be condemned, with the act of repentance being a secondary cause. [12]
- Natural Processes: The scientific investigation of secondary causality examines the causal relationships that exist in the material world, which are understood as being empowered by God but operating under natural laws. [1, 10]
Distinction from the First Cause
- The First Cause is God, the ultimate origin and sustainer of all reality and causality. [2, 4]
- Second causes are the created agents and events that are dependent on, and operate in virtue of, the power of the First Cause. [5, 11]
- The two orders of causality (first and second) are distinct and do not contradict each other, as they are of different orders. [13]
AI responses may include mistakes.
[1] wikipedia/en/Secondary_causation
[2] https://www.reddit.com/r/Reformed/comments/29c6dl/first_and_second_causes/
[3] https://www.wisdomlib.org/christianity/concept/secondary-cause
[4] https://learn.ligonier.org/devotionals/things-fall-out-necessarily
[5] https://krisispraxis.com/archives/2025/02/in-defence-of-secondary-causation-against-occasionalism/
[6] https://www.wisdomlib.org/christianity/concept/second-cause
[7] https://theopolisinstitute.com/leithart_post/prayer-and-secondary-causes/
[9] https://www.wrs.edu/assets/docs/Courses/Westminster%20Standards/WCF_3—Gods_Eternal_Decree.pdf
[11] https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=36354&randomterm=false
[12] https://learn.ligonier.org/devotionals/things-fall-out-contingently
[13] https://www.wyattgraham.com/p/what-are-first-and-secondary-causes