st. john of damascus (676-749 - Cristo Raul

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66 ST. JOHN OF DAMASCUS.
Bishop of Maiuma, it would seem that the collective
work was not finished, at least in its present form,
before the year 743 ; that being the date assigned to
Cosmas s consecration. We propose to give a short
analysis of each of these three treatises.
The title of the first, "Capita Philosophica
^(Kephalaia Philosophica), or
u Heads of Philo
sophy," appears to indicate a wider scope than the
extant treatise takes in. As it actually stands, the
current heading, Dialectica," really answers more
accurately to it,
as it consists of little more than a
of short chapters on the Categories of Aristotle,
and on the Universals of Porphyry. If it is not to be
regarded as one section or instalment of a larger work,
we must conclude that Damascenus was content with
so much only of philosophic introduction, as would
fit his readers to judge the better between what was
false and what was true the subject matter of his
next two divisions of the "Fons Scientise." For he
says plainly enough (cap. iii.) that logic, or dialectic,
is rather an instrument of philosophy than a division
of it itself. And that he took no narrow view of the
field of philosophy, is clear from the fanciful six
fold definition of it which he gives at the outset, and
still more from his division of it into (i) Speculative,
(2) Practical; these again being subdivided respectively
into (i) Theology, Physiology (or Natural Science), and
Mathematics ; (2) Ethics, Economics, and Politics.
It is obvious, therefore, that by the title of this piece,
assuming it to be complete, he can only have meant
to give a summary of one department of philo
sophy. This is further evident from the contents of