Quae res ad philosophiam pertineant.
The Labyrinth of Defining Philosophy
The author acknowledges the inherent difficulty of speaking about wisdom, noting that the obscurity lies not in flawed reasoning but in the nature of the subject itself.
But I see that we have now stumbled into an inescapable labyrinth just in the very act of speaking — a place where it is not our reasoning that is tangled, but the thing itself is obscure and breeds difficulty.
Wisdom as the Guide of All Human Action
Because wisdom belongs uniquely to human beings by natural privilege, it must govern all human activities, and therefore philosophy extends to every pursuit, whether theoretical or practical.
Because we set out to talk about the pursuit of wisdom, and we have established that this belongs to human beings alone by a certain privilege of nature, it follows that we now seem to have placed wisdom as the guiding force behind all human activities. For if the nature of brute animals, which is governed by no rational judgment, directs its movements solely according to the passions of the senses, and in pursuing or fleeing something uses not the discernment of intelligence but is driven by a blind impulse of the flesh, the conclusion must be that in the act of a rational soul, blind desire does not seize control, but wisdom, the guiding force, always goes before. And if this is established as true, we will now say that not only those pursuits in which the nature of things or moral discipline is studied, but also the principles behind all human activities or studies, pertain to philosophy — and not unfittingly.
Defining Philosophy
Philosophy is defined as the discipline that fully investigates the principles of all things, both human and divine.
With this understanding, we can define philosophy as follows: Philosophy is the discipline that fully investigates the principles of all things, human and divine.
The Original Wisdom and the Crafts
True philosophy concerns the original principle of wisdom rather than its applied instruments, yet even the crafts imitate nature through reason and thus participate in philosophical principle.
Nor should it trouble you that we said above philosophy is the love and pursuit of wisdom — not the wisdom that is displayed through instruments, such as architecture, agriculture, and the like, but that wisdom which alone is the original principle of things. Indeed, the very same activity can pertain to philosophy when considered in terms of its principle, yet be excluded from it when considered in terms of its administration — to speak of the present example: the principle of agriculture belongs to the philosopher, its administration to the farmer. Furthermore, the works of craftsmen, although they are not natural, nevertheless imitate nature, and they express through reason the exemplary form of their model — which is nature — the very nature they imitate.
The Branches of Philosophy
Since philosophy extends to all human acts, it necessarily has as many branches as there are different kinds of things to which it applies.
You see now by what logic we are compelled to extend philosophy into all human acts, so that it is now necessary for philosophy to have as many branches as there are different kinds of things to which it has been shown to apply.
Read the original Latin
Sed ut video, inextricabilem iam ipso loquendi ordine labyrinthum incidimus, ubi nobis non perplexus sermo, sed res obscura difficultatem pariat. quia enim de studio sapientiae loqui suscepimus, idque solis hominibus quodam naturae privilegio competere attestati sumus, consequenter nunc omnium humanorum actuum moderatricem quandam sapientiam posuisse videmur. si enim brutorum aninalium natura, quae nullo regitur rationis iudicio, motus suos secundum solas sensuum passiones diffundit, et in appetendo seu fugiendo aliquid non intelligentiae utitur discretione, sed caeco quodam carnis affectu impellitur, restat ut rationalis animae actus caeca cupiditas non rapiat, sed moderatrix semper sapientia praecedat. quod si verum esse constiterit, iam non solum ea studia in quibus vel de rerum natura vel disciplina agitur morum, verum etiam omnium humanorum actuum seu studiorum rationes, non incongrue ad philosophiam pertinere dicemus. secundum quam acceptionem sic philosophiam definire possumus: Philosophia est disciplina omnium rerum humanarum atque divinarum rationes plene investigans. nec movere debet quod supra diximus philosophiam esse amorem et studium sapientiae, non huius quae instrumentis explicatur, ut est architectura, agricultura, et cetera huiusmodi, sed eius sapientiae quae sola rerum primaeva ratio est. potest namque idem actus et ad philosophiam pertinere secundum rationem suam, et ab ea excludi secundum administrationem, verbi gratia, ut de praesenti loquamur: agriculturae ratio philosophi est, administratio rustici. praeterea, opera artificum, etsi natura non sint, imitantur tamen naturam, et sui exemplaris formam, quae natura est, qua imitantur, ratione exprimunt.
vides iam qua ratione cogimur philosophiam in omnes actus hominum diffundere, ut iam necesse sit tot esse philosophiae partes quot sunt rerum diversitates, ad quas ipsam pertinere constiterit.
Didascalicon de Studio Legendi (On the Study of Reading) companion
Hugh said begin with small daily portions. Start tomorrow.
Chosen Portion serves one short, ordered devotional reading each day — the medieval lectio pattern, free on iOS.
Hugh taught that formation comes from ordered, incremental daily reading, and Chosen Portion is that ordered daily portion delivered to your phone.
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