Derech Hashem - The Way of the God

[When one approaches a subject] the most effective way to apprehend it is to break down all its details, categorize them, and discern their interrelationships.And so, based on its place will be the examinations by which it is necessary to examine it, according to its nature, to fully understand its form and its function: If it is a part, he will seek to know the whole of which it is a part. If it is a specific, he will seek to analyze the category. If it is a cause, he will seek to analyze its effects; if an effect, its cause. If it is an association, he will seek [knowledge] about the subject, as well as to know what type of association it is - if precedent, if antecedent or if accompanying; if essential or contingent; and if potential or actual. All of these are examinations without which he will not completely comprehend the form of the thing. With all of it [However,], he may contemplate the nature of the thing, to know if it is constant or limited. And if it is limited, he should investigate its limits. For surely any true matter will end up becoming false if it is ascribed to a subject not fitting it or if it is seen outside of its limits.However, one must consider that the number of details is much too great for the intellect of man to contain, and one can't know them all. Yet what is fit is for him to attempt to know the general principles. As the nature of every principle is to contain [knowledge about] many details. So, when one grasps one principle, he [also] grasps a great number of details. And even though he has not yet examined them because they are [only] details [subsumed by] the principle; [nevertheless] when one of them comes to him, he is not stunted by knowing it, since [its] general matter - which perforce must exist - is already known to him.…