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Secrets of the Art
Revealed
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6. most orderly
Six: This
Art is most orderly
The Teacher:
As perfection and order are necessarily interdependent,
perfection is shown in order and order in perfection,
since whatever is perfect is orderly, and vice-versa;
therefore, if my Art is most perfect, it is also most
orderly.
The Pupil:
Father, I know and believe that what you say is true, but
since not everyone knows and believes these things about
your Art, I want you to prove them with necessary
reasons.
The Teacher:
My Son, this chapter would grow too large if I had to
demonstrate each and every point, so let anyone who does
not believe in my books examine them as they bear witness
to me and my Art, let them read through the following
chapters where they will find what they need to dispel
any doubts: but to keep you from faltering on the way, I
do not want to send you off without some sustenance; so
note the following contrast of opposites: twenty or so
letters of the alphabet are the first principles of all
the syllables, words and other constructions derived from
them, yet they are not natural principles, nor do they
have a strictly determined number, nor any natural order
among themselves, nor any necessary mutual connection,
nor can each letter be combined with every other letter,
and if you touch upon one letter, it does not involve all
the others, they are not arranged in circular fashion, or
subordinate to one another; and the same can be said
about the syllables, words and constructions that go into
forming speech or discourse: I can point out several
other flaws in this artificial linguistic System, and you
should look into this in the third chapter of this book,
regarding Natural and Artificial Grammar.
You can say
all the opposite of this about my Art, to clearly show
that it is most orderly, for all the Principles of my Art
are not only primordial, supreme, true and necessary, but
also real and natural, (see Ars Inventiva, third
Distinction, Rule 2) and they have a strictly determined
number, so that not one can be added or taken away, (see
the part on Music in Chapter 3 below, as well as in Ars
Universalis, Demonstrativa, Inventiva, Amativa etc.) they
have natural order, they are necessarily interconnected,
as I will demonstrate below in the said third Chapter,
and each combines with all the others, as can be viewed
in the first Tome, namely in the Universal Art, and in
the Books of the Principles of Theology, Philosophy, Law
and Medicine as well as in Ars Inventiva, Ars
Demonstrative, the General Table and Ars Amativa with
their accompanying Books, and in many other books of
mine, and touching upon one principle involves all the
others, they are disposed in a circular way, and
mutually subordinate, as determined in the said books,
and demonstrated through examples in each Chapter below.
The things I said about the Principles likewise apply to
the Conditions and Demonstrations, which are rational
syllables and words made of rational letters.
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