Hence I thought it not beside my purpose to inquire how this
is so, and how God may be more easily and certainly known than
the things of the world.
And as regards the soul, although many have considered
that it is not easy to know its nature, and some have even
dared to say that human reasons have convinced us that it
would perish with the body, and that faith alone could believe
the contrary, nevertheless, inasmuch as the Lateran Council
held under Leo X (in the eighth session) condemns these
tenets, and as Leo expressly ordains Christian philosophers to
refute their arguments and to employ all their powers in
making known the truth, I have ventured in this treatise to
undertake the same task.
More than that, I am aware that the principal reason
which causes many impious persons not to desire to believe
that there is a God, and that the human soul is distinct from
the body, is that they declare that hitherto no one has been
able to demonstrate these two facts; and although I am not of
their opinion but, on the contrary, hold that the greater part
of the reasons which have been brought forward concerning
these two questions by so many great men are, when they are
rightly understood, equal to so many demonstrations, and that
it is almost impossible to invent new ones, it is yet in my
opinion the case that nothing more useful can be accomplished
in philosophy than once for all to seek with care for the best
of these reasons, and to set them forth in so clear and exact
a manner, that it will henceforth be evident to everybody that
they are veritable demonstrations.
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