Talk:proximate cause

Antonym
What is the antonym of proximate cause? Or of proximate? Looking at a cause that is present, and often necessary, but very far from causation of the event being discussed. For example: as in the case of the role of gravity in a plane crash. It might be, and often is, that gravity would somehow be a causal factor, but we would not add "gravity" to our theory of aeronautics as an explanation about why some particular plane crashed. Of course gravity was a distant factor in the cause of the crash. I'm looking for a word that would describe this very distant relationship, opposite to proximate. Cheers. N2e 15:04, 6 December 2011 (UTC)