(
Latin, literally ‘
cause of itself’.)
Expression generally used as some kind of self-definition, more specifically a philosophic definition of the absoluteness of God.
‘Causa Sui’ found its origin in 360 AD. In scholasticism the related term ‘ens a se’ (‘being by itself’) indicated that God wasn’t dependent on anything else, but excluded that God was its own cause, since Aristotle (leading philosopher at that time) had judged that God didn’t create itself cause it wasn’t part of the atmosphere of Creation itself.
Nietzsche put that the Causa Sui-theory was being used as a cover for the desire to absolute freedom of will, with which the modern human being wanted to be solely responsible for its actions, without being able to blame God, the world or coincidence.