all times, under varying conditions, both those that exist and those yet to come.’”

“Others said: ‘Rather, He knows His own essence through His own essence, the universal attributes of His creatures, and the perpetually existing entity among His effects. He does not know particulars, nor does He know universals that perish, change, and undergo transformation, nor anything that comes into being, whether act or entity.’”

He said:

“The first position—by which I mean affirming only the transcendence of the essence—became widespread among the ancient philosophers, whereas the third position, namely knowledge of universals, prevailed among the later philosophers.

“The arguments of those who affirmed knowledge of particulars lost force among them because of subtle reasoning and the establishment of premises that had not been rigorously examined. Their listeners accepted these premises and were thus bound by their own assent without realizing it.”

He said:

“We shall now recount the positions and arguments of those who say that He, exalted is He, does not know particulars. We shall then proceed to examine and consider them, along with the position of those who maintain the contrary, following our usual practice of presenting the arguments for each position in full,