Universa Philosophia

A summula is a small summa or compendium, or an epilogue, in which matters proposed at greater length elsewhere are briefly set forth. Dialecticians take it to mean a brief outline of the things that one must first know if one wishes to grasp the higher disciplines through understanding and reason. Therefore philosophers, physicians, and theologians cannot set foot in those disciplines unless imbued with the precepts of the Summulae. The common run of jurists despises this discipline, holding that legal prudence is retained by memory alone; cultivated legal counselors, however, will not undertake their own discipline without first paying respects to this one, which is adorned in a remarkable way by the study of the Summulae. For arguments cannot be skillfully constructed by someone unskilled in argumentation. Indeed, nothing can be concluded, no one can win a victory, nor can anyone shine in the lecture hall unless he elegantly explains the conceptions of his mind by some form of argument. Those ignorant of this discipline are often laughed at and mocked with disgrace by moderately learned listeners, because they show that they do not even know argumentation by name. The aim of these disputations is to teach beginners how to argue, so that we may hold aloft a torch to guide students of every discipline to those disciplines themselves. I shall briefly explain what each participant must do.