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Objection 2: It is impossible for an infinite to be ordered.
In the second argument, Bonaventure argues that all order is established by the
beginning. Therefore, if there is no first thing in a multitude, then the multitude cannot be
ordered. If the past time is infinite then there would be an infinite number of solar revolutions
without the first solar revolution, and hence there would be no order of solar revolutions and no
solar revolution would be prior to another, which is clearly false. 71 Aquinas implicitly agrees
with Bonaventure’s assertion that order depends on a beginning; however, Aquinas considers
order to be a local feature of infinity. Actual infinity is impossible but infinity in succession is
not impossible because every given part of infinity in succession is finite. 72 Every part of infinity
in succession has a first element which gives rise to the perceived order. Aquinas’ distinction is a
clever one, but it fails to apply to time understood as a measure of the change of the universe as a
whole.
71
72
Ibid.
Baldner and Carroll, Aquinas on Creation, 103.
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