Prof. Taylor will explicate the notion of primary and secondary causality as it appears in various forms in philosophical thinkers of the Greek, Arabic and Latin traditions, including Plotinus, Proclus, the Plotiniana Arabica, the Kalām fī maḥḍ al-khayr (Latin: Liber de causis), al-Fārābī, Ibn Sīnā, Ibn Rushd and Thomas Aquinas. He will then address the following questions: (i) Does this notion necessarily entail efficient creative causality (i.e. “creation”) or can it also be applied to Aristotelian efficient causality of motion, final causality and formal causality? (ii) What, if any, is the relation of the notion of creation to the concept of primary and secondary causality in the contexts of these thinkers? Finally, he will conclude with some remarks on the papers of the workshop.*
* This is a Plenary Lecture preceding the workshop on this topic organised by The Aquinas and ‘the Arabs’ International Working Group at the Warburg Institute (1-2 June). For more information on the workshop see http://www.sas.ac.uk/events/event/8112