The like is true of future
events too, since if it is true to say that D will exist, it must be a
prior truth to say that A will exist, and the cause of this conclusion
is C; for if D will exist, C will exist prior to D, and if C will
exist, A will exist prior to it. And here too the same infinite
divisibility might be urged, since future events are not 'contiguous'.
But here too an immediate basic premiss must be assumed. And in the
world of fact this is so: if a house has been built, then blocks
must have been quarried and shaped. The reason is that a house
having been built necessitates a foundation having been laid, and if a
foundation has been laid blocks must have been shaped beforehand.
Again, if a house will be built, blocks will similarly be shaped
beforehand; and proof is through the middle in the same way, for the
foundation will exist before the house.
Now we observe in Nature a certain kind of circular process of
coming-to-be; and this is possible only if the middle and extreme
terms are reciprocal, since conversion is conditioned by reciprocity
in the terms of the proof. This-the convertibility of conclusions
and premisses-has been proved in our early chapters, and the
circular process is an instance of this.
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