Rational Thoughts on the Powers of Human Understanding (German Logic)

Preface ###

will find. However, I cannot hide the fact that it will greatly contribute to the ready use of these rules if one diligently reviews even my Foundational Principles of the Mathematical Sciences Anfangs-Gründe der Mathematischen Wissenschafften; Wolff’s influential textbook that applied mathematical rigor to various fields of knowledge and observes how the rules are applied there. For skill Fertigkeit; the facility or "dexterity" of the mind to perform a task quickly and correctly comes from practice; and practice consists of frequently reflecting on things that have been correctly proven. Even if the best fencing master Fencing was a common metaphor in 18th-century logic to illustrate that theoretical knowledge (maxims) is useless without physical or mental "drilling." were to explain the most excellent maxims of swordplay, one would still not be able to fence well if they had never actually picked up a sword. Much less would one learn to fence if the person attempting to teach the rules had never himself participated in a match.

To be sure, among us Germans today, youth are rarely encouraged toward thorough sciences, especially in those places where "teachers of ignorance" original: Lehrer der Unwissenheit; a sharp critique of educators who preferred rote memorization or superficial rhetoric over the rigorous "mathematical method" Wolff championed are gaining the upper hand. In such places, it is passed off as a special form of wisdom when study is turned into a mere trade Handwercke; literally a "handicraft," suggesting a mechanical, unthinking job or a way to earn a living rather than a pursuit of truth; yet, because through this