Being Logical: A Guide to Good Thinking

by D.Q. McInerny

THE PRINCIPLE OF SUFFICIENT REASON Stated: There is a sufficient reason for everything. Explanation: The principle could also be called “the principle of causality.” It states that everything that actually exists in the physical universe has an explanation for its existence. What is implied in the principle is that nothing in the physical universe is self-explanatory or the cause of itself. (For a thing to be a cause of itself, it would somehow have to precede itself, which is absurd.) One thing is said to be the cause of another thing because (a) it explains the very existence of that thing, or (b) it explains why the thing exists in this or that particular way, the “mode” of its existence. Larry’s mother and father are the cause of his very existence; if it were not for them, he would not be. Larry’s tennis coach in high school is a cause of his being a good tennis player. The coach is the cause of Larry’s being in a particular way—in this case, a good tennis player. The coach did not, as did Larry’s parents, bring him into being, but he caused a modification in his being. (Of course, there could have been other causes contributing to Larry’s being a good tennis player, so the coach may be only one among several causes.)