 The third application of the notion of active potency is to explain human generation. Kilwardby appeals to a (then) well-known concept, especially in the Augustinian milieu, of seminal reasons (see Karger 2002; Donati 2002). Seminal reasons are a philosophical concept used by Augustine in order to explain the theological problem of two apparently incompatible accounts of creation: one according to which everything was created in an instant, the other that there were successive moments of creation (described in the six days narrative of the Genesis). Kilwardby interprets this concept as meaning that everything was created immediately but not everything was made immediately (QLIIS 61, 174): in Creation, God created corporeal matter out of which He produced the first light as well as the first individuals of the different species (D43Q 1, 11; QLIIS 85, 240). When He created the first individuals, He inserted in them these seminal reasons (QLIIS 63, 179; D43Q 15, 21; 26, 29; QLIIS 61, 176), which are the cause, through the generative power, of the continuous generation of individuals, therefore explaining the propagation of species throughout time without the need of divine intervention (E 4, 32; E 1, 22; 5, 39–40; D43Q 26, 31).