[
994b]
[1]
(e.g.
a child cannot come from a man, for the result of the process of
becoming is not the thing which is becoming, but that which exists
after the process is complete. So day comes from early dawn, because
it is after dawn; and hence dawn does not come from day). But the
other class is reversible.In both cases progression to infinity is impossible; for in the
former the intermediate terms must have an end, and in the second the
process is reversible, for the destruction of one member of a pair is
the generation of the other. At the same time the first cause, being
eternal, cannot be destroyed; because, since the process of generation
is not infinite in the upper direction, that cause which first, on its
destruction, became something else, cannot possibly be eternal.
1Further, the Final cause of a
thing is an
end , and is such that it does not happen for
the sake of some thing else, but all other things happen for its sake.
So if there is to be a last term of this kind, the series will not be
infinite; and if there is no such term, there will be no Final cause.
Those who introduce infinity do not realize that they are abolishing
the nature of the Good (although no one would attempt to do anything
if he were not likely to reach some limit);nor would there be any intelligence in the
world, because the man who has intelligence always acts for the sake
of something, and this is a limit, because the
end is a
limit.
Nor again can the Formal
cause be referred back to another fuller definition;for the prior definition is
always closer, and the posterior is not; and where the original
definition does not apply, neither does the subsequent one.
[20]
Further, those who hold such a
view do away with scientific knowledge, for on this view it is
impossible to know anything until one comes to terms which cannot be
analyzed.Understanding, too, is impossible; for how can one conceive of
things which are infinite in this way? It is different in the case of
the line, which, although in respect of divisibility it never stops,
yet cannot be conceived of unless we make a stop (which is why, in
examining an infinite
2 line, one cannot count the
sections).
3Even matter has to be conceived under
the form of something which changes,
4 and there can be nothing which is infinite.
5 In any case the concept of infinity is not
infinite.
6Again, if the
kinds of causes were infinite in
number it would still be
impossible to acquire knowledge; for it is only when we have become
acquainted with the causes that we assume that we know a thing; and we
cannot, in a finite time, go completely through what is additively
infinite.
The effect of a lecture depends upon
the habits of the listener; because we expect the language to which we
are accustomed,