FINAL CAUSE. The end or purpose that an intelligent being has in performing an action or producing an effect. Strictly speaking, only created beings can have a final cause in what they do. God cannot properly be motivated by any cause, as though he were in any way changed or modified by his actions. Yet he does act for a purpose, which is really his own infinite goodness and identified with the divine essence.

See also CAUSE, EFFICIENT CAUSE, FIRST CAUSE, FORMAL CAUSE, FREE CAUSE, MATERIAL CAUSE, MORAL CAUSE, NECESSARY CAUSE, SECONDARY CAUSE.