Cause

Force, or fact, which gives rise to an event called its effect, the latter not being able to produce itself, but conditioned by something existing before it; this is called an efficient cause. There are three other applications of the term: formal, material, and final causes. The first denotes the e ential and universal characteristics of an object, the second the matter of which it is composed, and the last the purpose of an action or thing, the end it seeks or serves.