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19. On the Religious Legitimacy of Studying Logic: From the introduction to Elucidation of “Logical Terms” (1761)
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235 [. . .] The word logica, which is known among masters of wisdom to refer to logic, derives from logos, which in Greek sometimes refers to speech and expression, sometimes to idea and thought, and sometimes to the wisdom that is the soul’s acquired property for thinking true and correct thoughts. Since in Latin there is no word that combines these two meanings, Latin speakers made use of this Greek term. Similarly, the word dialectica, which [Latin writers] used in their books to refer to logic, is derived from the word dialegein, whose root is legein, which can mean erzählen [to narrate] and überlegen [to deliberate], and thus combines both meanings. When the translators at the time of Maimonides and Rashba,1 may their memories be for a blessing, translated books of wisdom from gentile languages into our holy language, they found that the [Hebrew] word higayon agrees in every respect with the words logica and dialectica, for it denotes the study of how to straighten the intellect and speech and an understanding of the methods by which they are properly employed. In what follows, you will see that this knowledge is built on the methods of forming syllogistic inferences and demonstrations, so that one can say that logic teaches a person the ways of syllogistic reasoning and demonstration, and how to employ them. The benefits of this investigation are abundant and numerous, and would be despised only by a stubborn or ignorant person. For the Eternal God endowed man with a heart to know, understand, and cognize the wonders of creation, which are great and numerous without end, so that he might recognize [God’s] greatness and majesty and thank Him for His abundant goodness, which He renders to His creatures at every hour and at every moment, from the heavenly hosts to the creeping things. The author of Hovot Halevavot elaborated on the excellence of this discernment in the “chapter on discernment.”2 Consequently, if 19 | On the Religious Legitimacy of Studying Logic From the Introduction to Elucidation of “Logical Terms” (1761) 1. [Rashba (Rabbi Solomon ibn Adret, c. 1235–1310) was one of the leading Spanish rabbis of his day and had considerable knowledge of philosophy and the sciences.] 2. [The “chapter on discernment” (Sha’ar Habehinah) is the second chapter of Bahya ibn Pakuda’s Hovot Halevavot (Duties of the heart). On Bahya, see part 2, note 40.] 236 | m i s c e l l a n y we do not make an effort to understand the ways of the intellect and the manner in which the soul recognizes and distinguishes between truth and falsehood, how will we know what path we should follow to arrive at the pinnacle of these intelligibles and guard against errors and pitfalls? How will [the soul] arrive at and ascend from the primary intelligibles3 known to all, the fool and wise person alike, [and move] from comprehension to comprehension until it ascends to lofty investigations and tastes on the tip of its stick the honey of the supreme and wondrous wisdom, which is held in store for the upright who walk in purity? Every wise individual who fears the Eternal yearns for this wisdom with a desire as strong as death. If a man were to give all of his wealth for the love of this wisdom, he would still be scorned. Tobesure,thehumanintellectalone,withouttheTorahandtradition,willnot satisfy the soul that thirsts to enjoy the light of life. For if a person relies solely on the spirit of his understanding without the assistance and protection of the Torah and tradition, he will grope like a blind man in the dark, and the methods of logic will not suffice to protect him from perplexity and pitfalls. This is what happened to many respected philosophers on whom the light of the Eternal’s Torah never shone, or whose hearts became haughty with pride and conceit, which led them to kick aside the Eternal’s Torah, saying that “my wisdom will preserve me, for I am wise.” They stumbled and fell into pits from which they could not rise; they were ensnared and captured in traps of error and perplexity . However, even one who chooses the Eternal’s Torah and completely trusts the words of His prophets and sages will not, on this account, escape the need to distinguish between truth and falsehood and to protect himself from error in beliefs, opinions, laws and their precise details, and all that our sages, may...