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?”