wisdom and purpose and the argument from a cause that has come into being. These two arguments encompass the whole discussion. For when they say, in the argument from purpose, “If He brings it into being, He acts by choice. This is impossible for the two reasons mentioned earlier—one being that this entails either His attaining perfection through something other than Himself or His acting in vain—and because of the untenable consequences involved, whether or not one allows that He may commit reprehensible acts,” they may be told:

“You yourselves acknowledge choice, as shown by your explicit statement quoted earlier that these wise purposes must necessarily come from an agent who intends and wills them. This is found throughout the philosophers’ books. The most highly esteemed among them are the Peripatetic metaphysicians, who are more explicit about this than anyone else. The natural philosophers likewise affirm it, even Muhammad ibn Zakariyyā al-Rāzī and others like him.”