On the Usefulness of the Parts, Vol. II

in every way, and adorns his soul with all the arts. For just as if he possessed one innate weapon, that alone would be his through everything, so too, if he had one art by nature, he would not have the others. Since it was better to use all weapons and all arts, for this reason, nothing innate was given to him. Therefore, Aristotle also rightly said that the hand is a kind of instrument before other instruments. And one of us, imitating him, could also rightly say that reason is a kind of art before other arts. For just as the hand, being none of the specific instruments, is an instrument before all others because it is naturally suited to receive them all, so too reason, existing as none of the specific arts but being naturally suited to receive them all into itself, would be a kind of art before other arts. Thus, man alone of all animals, having an art before other arts in his soul according to reason, acquired an instrument before other instruments in his body.

Ch. V.

Come then, let us first examine this part of him, not by considering whether it is simply useful or whether it is fitting for a wise animal, but whether its construction is in every way such that, if it had been made differently, it could not have been better. One first and primary criterion of the best construction of a manipulative instrument is whether it can readily grasp all shapes and all sizes that man is naturally meant to move. Was it, therefore, better for it to be split in many ways, or to be entirely unsplit? Or this...