--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: uncaused cause, or to use Aristotle’s…" description: "\"“uncaused cause, or to use Aristotle’s famous expression, an Unmoved”\" — Edward Feser" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac5/edward-feser-41693_aristotle_uncaused-cause-or-to-use-aristotle-s-fam_1688100.png" --- # uncaused cause, or to use Aristotle’s famous expression… ![“uncaused cause, or to use Aristotle’s famous expression, an Unmoved” quote by Edward Feser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac5/edward-feser-41693_aristotle_uncaused-cause-or-to-use-aristotle-s-fam_1688100.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac5/edward-feser-41693_aristotle_uncaused-cause-or-to-use-aristotle-s-fam_1688100.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac5/edward-feser-41693_aristotle_uncaused-cause-or-to-use-aristotle-s-fam_1688100.png) > ““uncaused cause, or to use Aristotle’s famous expression, an Unmoved”” [Edward Feser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-feser/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The concept of an unmoved mover describes a cause that itself is uncaused, a foundational idea in metaphysics. **In simple terms:** An unmoved mover is a cause without a cause. Key Takeaway Consider foundational causes in reasoning. Themes metaphysics causality philosophy Mood contemplative inquisitive Type philosophical academic When to use this quote - scientific research - ethical debates - personal belief systems Key Concepts Aristotelian thought cosmology Questions to Reflect On - What foundational causes shape your worldview? - How do you reconcile uncaused origins? A Different Perspective Abstract concepts can be hard to apply practically. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Unmoved](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unmoved/) ## Related quotes > [Some theists, observing that all 'effects' need a cause, assert that God is a cause but not an effect. 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To be unmoved is to risk the greatest danger of all: To misunderstand and misrepresent God.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ronnie-mcbrayer/to-not-follow-jesus-is-to-be-unmoved-to-be-unmoved-is-to-risk-the/) [Ronnie McBrayer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ronnie-mcbrayer/) > [“And just stared, unmoved, as though watching a world in which she was no longer an inhabitant.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jeffrey-stepakoff/and-just-stared-unmoved-as-though-watching-a-world-in-which-she-was/) [Jeffrey Stepakoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jeffrey-stepakoff/) > [ He \[the Statist\] is unmoved by reason, evidence, and history. ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-levin/he-the-statist-is-unmoved-by-reason-evidence-and-history/) [Mark Levin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-levin/) > [“He was as unmoved as a wall of concrete.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hugh-howey/he-was-as-unmoved-as-a-wall-of-concrete/) [Hugh Howey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hugh-howey/) > [He who is unmoved by tears has no heart.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/napoleon-bonaparte/he-who-is-unmoved-by-tears-has-no-heart/) [Napoleon Bonaparte](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/napoleon-bonaparte/) > [“External relationships seem to have been emptied by a massive withdrawal of the real libidinal self. 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Well, I wouldn’t want to exaggerate, so let me put it this way: Abandoning Aristotelianism, as the founders of modern…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-feser/how-significant-is-aristotle-well-i-wouldn-t-want-to-exaggerate-so/) [Edward Feser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-feser/) > [For faith, properly understood, does not contradict reason in the least; indeed...it is nothing less than the will to keep one's mind fixed precisely…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-feser/for-faith-properly-understood-does-not-contradict-reason-in-the-least/) [Edward Feser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-feser/) > [ Preaching Christianity to skeptics without first setting out the praeambula fidei \[preambles of faith\], and then complaining when they don’t accept it, is like… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-feser/preaching-christianity-to-skeptics-without-first-setting-out-the/) [Edward Feser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-feser/) > [“It is not just that secularists happen to reject and oppose religion; it's that there is nothing more to their creed than rejecting and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-feser/it-is-not-just-that-secularists-happen-to-reject-and-oppose-religion/) [Edward Feser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-feser/) > [Dawkins’s problem is that he doesn’t know the difference between probabilistic empirical theorizing and strict metaphysical demonstration, and thus misreads an attempt at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-feser/dawkins-s-problem-is-that-he-doesn-t-know-the-difference-between/) [Edward Feser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-feser/) > [Atheists tend to read only each other’s books and not the work of the religious thinkers they are supposedly refuting.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-feser/atheists-tend-to-read-only-each-other-s-books-and-not-the-work-of-the/) [Edward Feser](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-feser/) > [“Better for them to deny the mind--and with it rationality, truth, and science itself--than to admit the soul. 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Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [The ancient Greek philosophers were all natural-born dialecticians and Aristotle, the most encyclopaedic intellect among them, had even already analysed the most essential forms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-engels/the-ancient-greek-philosophers-were-all-natural-born-dialecticians/) [Friedrich Engels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-engels/) > [“I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well. { His teacher was the legendary philosopher Aristotle }”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-the-great/i-am-indebted-to-my-father-for-living-but-to-my-teacher-for-living/) [Alexander the Great](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-the-great/) > [Aristotle discovered all the half-truths which were necessary to the creation of science.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfred-north-whitehead/aristotle-discovered-all-the-half-truths-which-were-necessary-to-the/) [Alfred North Whitehead](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfred-north-whitehead/) > [The bourgeois thinkers of the eighteenth century thus turned Aristotle's formula on its head: satisfactions which the Greek philosopher had identified with leisure were…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alain-de-botton/the-bourgeois-thinkers-of-the-eighteenth-century-thus-turned/) [Alain de Botton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alain-de-botton/) > [“We are what we repeatedly do. —Aristotle”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-navarro/we-are-what-we-repeatedly-do-aristotle/) [Joe Navarro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-navarro/) > [“When the point of education becomes the production of credentials rather than the cultivation of knowledge, it forfeits the motive recognized by Aristotle: "All…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/matthew-b-crawford/when-the-point-of-education-becomes-the-production-of-credentials/) [Matthew B. Crawford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/matthew-b-crawford/) > [The intimate and the infinite are tangled together in this incandescent book, lit by Aristotle’s bright spark of a daughter. Lucid even in nightmare,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marina-endicott/the-intimate-and-the-infinite-are-tangled-together-in-this/) [Marina Endicott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marina-endicott/) > [“Within certain limits terminology is always arbitrary. But the definition of being-true as unveiling, making manifest, is not an arbitrary, private invention of mine;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-heidegger/within-certain-limits-terminology-is-always-arbitrary-but-the/) [Martin Heidegger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-heidegger/) > [“I have this idea that the reason we have dreams is that we're thinking about things that we don't know we're thinking about-and those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-alire-s-enz/i-have-this-idea-that-the-reason-we-have-dreams-is-that-we-re/) [Benjamin Alire Sáenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-alire-s-enz/) > [The science of the church is neglected for the study of geometry, and they lose sight of Heaven while they are employed in measuring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-gibbon/the-science-of-the-church-is-neglected-for-the-study-of-geometry-and/) [Edward Gibbon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-gibbon/) > [“I guess I was a mystery even to myself.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-alire-s-enz/i-guess-i-was-a-mystery-even-to-myself/) [Benjamin Alire Sáenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-alire-s-enz/) > [“The void is 'not-being,' and no part of 'what is' is a 'not-being,'; for what 'is' in the strict sense of the term is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aristotle/the-void-is-not-being-and-no-part-of-what-is-is-a-not-being-for-what/) [Aristotle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aristotle/) Browse all 260 Aristotle quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“uncaused cause, or to use Aristotle’s famous expression, an Unmoved”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Edward Feser" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-feser/uncaused-cause-or-to-use-aristotle-s-famous-expression-an-unmoved/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Aristotle" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-feser/uncaused-cause-or-to-use-aristotle-s-famous-expression-an-unmoved/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac5/edward-feser-41693_aristotle_uncaused-cause-or-to-use-aristotle-s-fam_1688100.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac5/edward-feser-41693_aristotle_uncaused-cause-or-to-use-aristotle-s-fam_1688100.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ac5/edward-feser-41693_aristotle_uncaused-cause-or-to-use-aristotle-s-fam_1688100.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“uncaused cause, or to use Aristotle’s famous expression, an Unmoved” — Edward Feser", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Edward Feser", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-feser/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“uncaused cause, or to use Aristotle’s...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-feser/uncaused-cause-or-to-use-aristotle-s-famous-expression-an-unmoved/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-feser/uncaused-cause-or-to-use-aristotle-s-famous-expression-an-unmoved/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```