The Proof of the Protrepticus as an Overcoming of Formal Elenchos

The true proof of the principle, according to us, does not appear in Book IV of the Metaphysics, but in the Protrepticus, where the conclusion is not bound to the presupposition, but is freed from it and is absolutely valid. The procedural aspect of proof, which is inevitable, is transcended by the transcendental aspect, which is undeniable, for the reason that formally the truth of the principle holds as the conclusion of the demonstrative process; transcendentally, on the other hand, it is by virtue of the principle that the proof itself arises. The truth that is philosophising, i.e., thinking, in fact allows us to grasp the limit of all that is other than philosophising (thinking), and allows the unconditioned condition to emerge that illuminates thinking itself, i.e., the truth that is the absolute itself.