held by the other group: its proponents say that every temporally originated thing that comes into being after nonexistence has a cause that necessitates its coming into being. That cause is itself temporally originated, until the causes of temporally originated things are traced back to perpetual motion in perpetually moving entities.” He then presented the rest of their account, which is the position of Aristotle and his followers.

Several writers have reported that Aristotle was the first philosopher to affirm the eternity of the world. The leading philosophers before him did not affirm the eternity of the celestial sphere’s form, although they held other views concerning matter. He discussed this principle at length in his treatment of knowledge and other matters, when refuting those who claimed that He does not know particulars, for fear of change and multiplicity in His essence. He presented the argument of Aristotle and Ibn Sīnā and refuted it.

He said:

“As for the claim that His apprehension of things other than Himself entails otherness within Him, and that the multiplicity of the objects apprehended entails multiplicity within Him, the conclusive answer is that this does not introduce multiplicity into His essence, but only into His relations and connections. These do not introduce multiplicity into His identity