PREFACE.

b 2

...[ontological principles] original: "principiis ontologicis"; the text begins mid-word, likely completing the phrase "from ontological principles." that its rules could by no means be demonstrated. Convinced, therefore, of its great utility—or rather, its absolutely indispensable necessity—I began to consider how to improve it. I set myself this goal: to seek out distinct notions both of being original: "entis"; a central concept in metaphysics referring to anything that exists or could exist. in general, and of those predicates original: "prædicatorum"; the characteristics or qualities attributed to a subject. that belong to it, whether you consider being as such in itself, or relate it to other beings insofar as they are beings. From these notions, I intended to derive specific propositions; in my work on Logic, I have already shown at length that these are the only kind of propositions useful for reasoning. Finally, in demonstrating these propositions, I would admit no principles unless they were already established in the preceding sections, just as I likewise showed in my Logic must be done in a demonstrative method original: "methodo demonstrativa"; a rigorous way of proving things step-by-step from known truths..

And so, at last, the present work was born, which now enters the public eye, presenting First Philosophy original: "Philosophiam primam"; another name for Ontology, the study of the nature of existence. dressed in an entirely new form. Although the scientific method original: "methodus scientifica"; here meaning a rigorous, deductive arrangement of ideas similar to geometry. which I have used—and will continue to use in the subsequent parts of philosophy—requires that every subject be handled in the specific place where it can be understood and proven from what came before, I still wanted to follow the traditional order used in schools as much as that method allows, just as I did in my Logic. For this reason, I have divided the entire work into two parts, subdividing each into sections and then into chapters. It has happened, however, that I have occasionally used terms...