circular causation is distinct from circular reasoning. Life would be impossible without circular causation—after all, babies come from parents, who started off as babies, who came from parents, and so on into the mists of the distant past. But identifying a causal cycle begs the question if the question is about the ultimate cause. If your child is sophisticated enough to ask how human beings came into existence, he won’t be satisfied if you answer by explaining where babies come from.
James Taranto
...because what is described isn’t a causal cycle.