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Lull's Book of
Propositions
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1 - Investigating Universals
For investigating and forming any universal in this Art so as to descend from it to any required particular
item, the senses must first survey the figures with their
propositions so that the imagination can imagine the necessary universal while memory remembers the
sayings or terms of the figures, and the will desires the
common good, loves truth and hates falsehood. As the senses, imagination, memory and will discourse
in this way, the intellect rises to the universal and through
discourse discovers it to be a medium where sometimes only statements of T. are combined, sometimes
T. and A. are used together, sometimes several figures
are combined according to whatever is required, like S. and V. etc. And T. must always be present, for
without T. nothing can be done with the other figures.
Thus the intellect discovers this universality which is a medium conditioned by the fact that no statement
of T. or A. or of any of the other figures can be discarded
or deemed irrelevant. And the constitution of this universality must always be directed by combining
and joining the terms in the figures, namely T. and the other
figures, and observing the concordance of the propositions and their questions. And this is always done
with T.: either alone, or by taking T. with A. , or T. with A.
and S. and adding other figures, and sometimes by taking T. with S. and adding other figures, etc.
This process involves a greater or lesser number of figures in accordance with the requirements of different
universals and the concordance between the particular
that is sought in the universal and the principles and cameras of the figures. Examples that show how
to investigate and form universal concepts are given in the
fourth section, where certain universal cameras are used for solving various particular questions.
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