Kitap 2
7
On the other hand A comes from B in the sense that water comes from air by the destruction of B. Hence the former class of process is not reversible (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.
8
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.The argument is elliptical and confused. The meaning is this: Since there is an upward limit, there is a first cause which is eternal, being independent of any other cause. Therefore this cause cannot cause other things by its destruction, in the manner just described.
