Definition of vera causa in English:
vera causa
nounPlural verae causae ˌvɛːrə ˈkaʊzə
historical (in Newtonian philosophy) the true cause of a natural phenomenon, by an agency whose existence is independently evidenced.
Example sentencesExamples
- An unconscious idea is neither a vera causa nor a fact ultimately to be verified.
- This element of Newton's first Rule we can call by its common name, the vera causa principle.
- Explanation meant first detecting a vera causa, identifying a theoretically competent cause.
- But the doctrine of the vera causa has nothing to do with elementary conceptions.
- They admit variation as a vera causa in one case, they arbitrarily reject it in another, without assigning any distinction in the two cases.
Origin
Latin, literally 'real cause'.