Note (return) — Chapter XI

Now this mental initiative of every process of induction is the intuitive and necessary conviction that there must be a sufficient reason why every thing exists, and why it is as it is, and not otherwise; 566 or in other words, if any thing begins to be, some thing else must be supposed 567 as the ground, and reason, and cause, and law of its existence. This "law of sufficient (or determinant) reason" 568 is the fundamental principle of all metaphysical inquiry. It is contained, at least in a negative form, in that famous maxim of ancient philosophy, "De nihilo nihil"--"Ἀδύνατον γίνεσθαί τι ἐκ µηδενὸς προϋπάρχοντος." "It is impossible for a real entity to be made or generated from nothing pre-existing;" or in other words, "nothing can be made or produced without an efficient cause." 569 This principle is also distinctly announced by Plato: "Whatever is generated, is necessarily generated from a certain αἰτίαν"--ground, reason, or cause; "for it is wholly impossible that any thing should be generated without a cause." 570