R. Joseph Albo prefaces his book on the principles of Judaism as follows: “As the human understanding is incapable of finding out what is true and what is good, there must be a higher Being that assists us in determining what is good and in comprehending what is true. It is therefore necessary, above all, to study and to know the divine Law that guides man in these problems.” R. Eliah del Medigo, in his Bechinath haddath (Examination of Religion) says as follows:— “Let us first see whether or not the study of philosophy is permitted to the followers of our religion; and, if it be permitted, whether the study is to be considered a duty and a laudable act. The right-minded Jew does not doubt that the Law aims at leading us to humane conduct, good deeds, and true knowledge, the common people according to their capacity, and the more gifted according to their abilities. Certain fundamental truths are therefore set forth in the Law and the Prophets in an authoritative, poetical, or dialectical style; but the higher order of intellects are encouraged to search for proper proofs. Thus the whole nation is addressed by Isaiah: ‘Lift up your eyes on high and see who hath created these,’ and the like. Also the chief of the Prophets tells the Israelites: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God; the Lord is One.’ Those who are more highly endowed than their fellow-men are exhorted, either directly or indirectly, to follow the course which is suitable to them. The direct exhortation to philosophical research is contained in the words: ‘Know then this day, and take it to thy heart, that the Lord He is God,’ &c.; and indirectly it is contained in the commandment to love and to fear God, as has been explained by R. Moses Maimonides.—The study of science will certainly be of use to the scholar; it leads to a knowledge of the created things, and through these to a knowledge of the Creator. Such study may even be considered as necessary to the Jewish scholar, though not to the ordinary Jew. The scholar must, however, not entirely rely on his research, but on that which is taught in the Law. In this the scholar and the ordinary man are equal, that both accept the teaching of the Torah as infallible; only with this difference, that the scholar can in addition satisfy his thirst for knowledge and confirm by scientific proof what he has already accepted as true on the authority of the Bible.”