Preface.

poorly created, so that without the assistance of his fellow men, he can provide for himself neither food nor drink, nor any other bodily necessities; this we may see extensively throughout their writings here and there.

However, if we wish to look at and consider these same complaints of theirs a bit more deeply with Christian modesty, we shall soon find how highly the Almighty Creator has honored this noble creature, Man, above His other creations. We see with what great, immeasurable gifts of the spirit or understanding—namely, and then with both hands—He has adorned and provided him as his special instruments. These are then immediately followed and, as it were, reinforced original: succenturiiren, a Latinate term meaning to act as a reserve or to supplement by two excellent gifts: speech and the art of writing. Thus it appears that Aristotle called Man a rational creature for these reasons: because he is endowed by God with hands, so that whatever he might invent through his reason to cover his nakedness and protect his weakness, Maier is referencing a famous philosophical debate: while some ancients thought man was rational because he had hands to manipulate the world, Aristotle argued that God gave man hands because he was already the most rational being, capable of using them for infinite purposes.