Causa Sui is the Latin name for a self-caused cause, one that is not the result of prior events. The main idea is that it is unpredictable from prior events, or at best can be predicted only with some probability, not certainty.

The core idea of determinism is closely related to the idea of causality. But we can have causality without determinism. And we will see that the departure from strict causality is very slight compared to the miraculous ideas associated with the causa sui of the ancients.

Despite David Hume's critical attack on the necessity of causes, many philosophers embrace causality strongly. Some even connect it to the very possibility of logic and reason.

Generally they oppose the idea of a "dreaded causa sui."

Even in a world that contains quantum uncertainty, macroscopic objects are determined to an extraordinary degree. Newton's laws of motion are deterministic enough to send men to the moon and back. Our Cogito model of the Macro Mind is large enough to ignore quantum uncertainty for the purpose of the reasoning will. The neural system is robust enough to insure that mental decisions are reliably transmitted to our limbs.

We call this determinism, limited as it is in extremely small structures, "adequate determinism." The world is adequately determined to send men to the moon. The presence of quantum uncertainty leads philosophers to call the world "indetermined." But indeterminism is seriously misleading when most events are overwhelmingly "adequately determined."

Adequate determinism means that we can usually see the causes for events, despite the fact that some causes are surprising and after the fact seen to be unpredicatable, the result of a causa sui.

There is no problem imagining that the three traditional mental faculties of reason - perception, conception, and comprehension - are all carried on deterministically in a physical brain where quantum events do not interfere with normal operations.

There is also no problem imagining a role for randomness in the brain in the form of quantum level noise. Noise can introduce random errors into stored memories. Noise could create random associations of ideas during memory recall. This randomness may be driven by microscopic fluctuations that are amplified to the macroscopic level. Such randomness is at the heart of the idea of a causa sui.

Our Macro Mind needs the Micro Mind for the free action items and thoughts in an Agenda of alternative possibilities to be de-liberated by the will. The random Micro Mind is the "free" in free will and the source of human creativity. The adequately determined Macro Mind is the "will" in free will that de-liberates, choosing actions for which we can be morally responsible.