The Chain's Existence Summary
In the first paragraph, Clarke tries to dispel the notion of an endless progression of dependent beings by examining the reason for its existence. First, he establishes that to have a succession of beings, each successive being has to rely on the previous one for its creation. He then states that the infinite series of dependent beings has to include everything that has existed, currently exists, or will exist in the universe. Because this is an exhaustive collection, nothing can exist outside of this infinite succession. If those statements are both true, then there cannot be an outside being or force from another universe that started the dependent chain. Thus, the reason for the chain’s existence has to come from within itself. The purpose