Sacred Texts  Classics  Index  Previous  Next   Section 6  6.
Philosophy has other provinces, but Dialectic is its precious
part: in its study of the laws of the universe, Philosophy draws
on Dialectic much as other studies and crafts use Arithmetic,
though, of course, the alliance between Philosophy and Dialectic
is closer.  And in Morals, too, Philosophy uses Dialectic: by
Dialectic it comes to contemplation, though it originates of
itself the moral state or rather the discipline from which the
moral state develops.  Our reasoning faculties employ the data
of Dialectic almost as their proper possession for they are
mainly concerned about Matter [whose place and worth Dialectic
establishes].  And while the other virtues bring the reason to
bear upon particular experiences and acts, the virtue of Wisdom
[i.e., the virtue peculiarly induced by Dialectic] is a certain
super-reasoning much closer to the Universal; for it deals with
correspondence and sequence, the choice of time for action and
inaction, the adop