Rudimenta artium dialecticae et rhetoricae

RVDIMENTA ARTIS DIALECTICAE.
Rudiments of the Art of Dialectic.

Definition of Dialectic.

Dialectic is the art of reasoning correctly about proposed things.

Three duties of Dialectic.

This happens in three ways: by Defining, by Dividing, and by Arguing. These will be explained through the three treatises of this little book.

Matter or question.

The thing about which Dialectic reasons is everything that is proposed for teaching or disputing. This is called the matter of Dialectic, and it is properly called a Question. Handwritten annotation in margin: "is speech ... is everything that with"

A double Question.

A question is double: Simple and Composite.

Simple.

A question is simple when one asks about some single word: as when one asks, What is virtue? What is faith?

Composite.

Composite, when one discusses an entire sentence: as, Is virtue the highest good? and, Does faith alone justify?

A simple question is explained by Definition and Division: a composite one, by Argumentation.