Skip to content
Artwork for Undeceptions with John Dickson
Undeceptions with John Dickson · Sunday · 55 min

189. First Cause

The question of whether the universe has a beginning – or, more properly, a ‘foundation’ – and what that origin might be, has been the bread and butter of philosophers since the beginning of philosophy. The search for a ‘first cause’ is not necessarily a purely religious one. We’re tracing this big idea from Plato and Aristotle through early Christian scholars like John Philoponus, Islamic thinkers, and Thomas Aquinas, up to modern physics. And we’re asking one of the biggest questions there is: “Why is there something rather than nothing?”

0:00-55:41

transcript

No transcript — this publisher did not publish one.

show notes

The question of whether the universe has a beginning – or, more properly, a ‘foundation’ – and what that origin might be, has been the bread and butter of philosophers since the beginning of philosophy. The search for a ‘first cause’ is not necessarily a purely religious one.


We’re tracing this big idea from Plato and Aristotle through early Christian scholars like John Philoponus, Islamic thinkers, and Thomas Aquinas, up to modern physics. And we’re asking one of the biggest questions there is: “Why is there something rather than nothing?”

more episodes

All episodes