On Order (De Ordine)

Introduction vii Book One First Debate One: Divine Providence rules all 2 Two: Dedicates the work to Zenobius 4 Three: Whys and wherefores of the debate 8 Four: Nothing happens without a cause 12 Five: God governs everything in order 16 Six: Order encompasses everything 20 Seven: God does not love evil things even if they belong to order 22 Eight: Licentius falls in love with philosophy. Enter Monica. The liberal arts. 26 Second Debate Nine: Order leads to God 30 Ten: What order is. How to spur the sense of emulation and vainglory in teenagers who undertake the liberal arts. 36 Eleven: Monica is not excluded from the debate on the grounds of her sex 40 Book Two First Debate One: Analysis of the definition of order 46 Two: What "to be with God" means. The wise man's stability in God. 50 Three: Can foolishness be with God? 59 Four: Whether evil actions belong to order. Within order, evil contributes to the beauty of the universe. 62 Five: Correcting the error of those who believe there is no order governing things 66 Six: The wise man's mind is unmoved 72 Second Debate Six (continued) 72 Seven: What kind of order there would be in the absence of evil 74 Eight: Instructions for the youth: how to live and how to learn in order 82 Nine: We learn by authority and reason 84 Ten: Few follow the norms of right living 88 Eleven: Reason and its traces in what the senses perceive. What is rational and what is reasonable. 90 Twelve: Reason devised all the disciplines. The birth of words, writing and numbers. The separation of words into syllables. The birth of history. 98 Thirteen: Invention of logic and rhetoric 100 Fourteen: Music and poetry. Verse. 102 Fifteen: Geometry and astronomy 104 Sixteen: The liberal arts lead the mind to God 106 Seventeen: The uninstructed should not tackle matters above their heads 109 Eighteen: What order leads the soul to knowledge of self and of unity 112 Nineteen: Excellence of man over the animals. How he can see God. 114 Twenty: Epilogue. Exhortation to a good life. 118 Index 125