Causa sui (pronounced [ˈkau̯.sa ˈsʊ.iː]; transl. cause of itself, self-caused) is a Latin term that denotes something that is generated within itself. Used in relation to the purpose that objects can assign to themselves, the concept was central to the works of Baruch Spinoza, Sigmund Freud, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Ernest Becker.