Kitap 11
6
Further, we shall have an infinite series if there is to be change of change and becoming of becoming, because if the latter of two becomings comes to be from the former, the former must come to be too. E.g., if simple becoming was once coming to be, that which comes to be something was also once coming to be. Therefore that which simply comes to be was not yet, but there was already something coming to be coming to be something.
7
But this too was at one time coming to be, and therefore it was not at that time coming to be something. But in infinite series there is no first term, and therefore in this series the first term cannot exist, nor can any subsequent term. Therefore nothing can be either generated or moved or changed.
7
Further, the same thing which admits of motion admits also of the contrary motion and of rest, and that which admits of generation admits also of destruction.
8
Therefore that which comes to be, when it has come to be coming to be, is then in course of perishingsc. which is absurd.; for it does not perish as soon as it is coming to be coming to be, nor afterwards, because that which is perishing must exist .That which comes to be must cease to be, and it can cease to be only when it exists. Therefore if that which comes to be comes to be coming to be, it must cease to be when it is coming to be; before this it does not exist, but is only coming to be coming to be, and after this it is not that which comes to be but that which has come to be.
8
Further, there must be some matter underlying that which is coming to be or changing. What then will it be? What is it that becomes motion or generation in the same way as it is body or soul that undergoes change? And moreover what is that which is the terminus of the motion? For that which we are considering must be a motion or generation of A from B into C.
9
How then can these conditions be fulfilled? There can be no learning of learning, and therefore there can be no generation of generation.
