Judah Messer Leon's Commentary On The "vetus Logica" - With A Glossary Of Hebrew Logical And Philosophical Terms

JUDAH MESSER LEONS COMMENTARY ON THE VETUS LOGICA A STUDY BASED ON THREE MSS. WITH A GLOSSARY OF HEBREW LOGICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL TERMS- A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, June, I903 ISAAC HUSIK Late E. J. BRILL LEYDEN Holland I go6 TO THOSE OF MY FRIENDS TO WHOM 1 OWE MORE THAN I CAN EXPRESS, THIS HUMBI, E EFFORT IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED. -- PREFACE. -- There is a great mass of material existing in the European libraries, of works written in Hebrew, original and translated, on subjects philosophical and scientific. The material to which in particular I am referring dates from the middle ages, and an examination of it, though laborious, no doubt, and tedious, would yet be of great interest and would contribute not a little to our knowledge of mediaeval learning. Workers in this field are necessarily few, and it is with more than ordinary gratitude that the scholastic world welcomes a work of such stupendous erudition and labor as that of STEINSCHNEIDEK, entitled UDie Hebraischen Uebersetzungen des Mittelalters, und die Juden als Dolmetscher. Being a relatively pioneer work, it is not so much literary as it is bibliographical but it remains the sole quarry from which every later worker in that field must hew, and it goes without saying that my work could never have been done if not for Steinschneider. From the material which Steinschneider has thus with his wonderful erudition gathered in that volume, I have selected one author - a single stone out of that rich quarry - to be more exact, one work of one author, for a more detailed examinatioi. PRANTLS Geschichteder Logik, another work of wonderful learning and critical acumen, was next to STEINSCHNEIUER the size qua non of this essay. If the little I have done will be privileged at some time to contribute its mite to the work of a future Renan - a tile in his beautiful edifice - it will not have been done in vain. The book which is now offered to the reader represents a doctors dissertation presented to the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Pennsylvania, in June 1903 partly rewritten and slightly enlarged during part of my tenure of a University Fellowship for Research in Philosophy at the same institution, to the authorities of which I embrace this opportunity of expressing my obligations for many signs of encouragement and acts of kindness. The parts newly added are 5 2, on the life and works of Messer Leon, the glossary and the index. The portion of the section on the sources of Messer Leon, dealing with his indebtedness to Walter Rurleigh was entirely rewritten as a result of my securing a copy of Burleighs Super Artem Veterem Expositio, for the loan of which I have to thank the authorities of the library of Yale University. My work would not be complete if I did not avow the many debts of gratitude I owe to those who in various ways have made it possible for me to accomplish the task I undertook. TO the authorities of the Royal Library of Munich, the Paris National Library, the Bodleyan library of Oxford, the British Museum, and the State Library of Leipzig, my thanks are due for their kind permission to use the mss. on which this study is based. The libraries of Columbia, Yale and Princeton Universities in this country were kind enough to lend me rare volumes indispensable tothe successful prosecution of my work...