ABSTRACT
The objects of our knowing are divided into three categories: that which is contingent, that which is necessarily self-existent and that which is inherently impossible of existence. The notion of that the existence of which is impossible is of course a figurative thing, for if anything is to be thought of as a true object of knowledge it must really exist so that the concept of it can be formed. In its non-existence, the contingent has no need of an existent cause. For non-existence is negative and a negative has no need of becoming existent. It is clear that all contingents in existence taken together constitute a contingent. And all contingence needs a cause to give it being. Thus the collectivity of contingents in turn requires a creator or originating cause. It is impossible that this should be the sum of the contingencies, since that would involve a thing being antecedent to itself.
