What purpose information? Facing a vast corpus of facts, the heirs of the Mishnah answered this question by showing the cogency of data. They adopted analytical templates that transcended details and transformed the Mishnah's collection of topical expositions into a system of law. This was accomplished in the Bavli, the Talmud of Babylonia, which systematized and imposed an orderly program on the numerous subjects treated by the Mishnah. The Bavli follows a limited repertoire of analytical procedures, and so in parsing the law it often says the same thing about many things. Four templates govern, two form clear patterns from the data and two use various analytical arguments to transform these patterns into generalizations. Two types of analytical arguments, dialectical or moving and formal or static, join the exegetical analyses of clarification and contextualization. The systematization of the law proceeded in four steps. First, the words, phrases, principles, and authorities of the Mishnah were clarified in a uniform manner, following a rigid pattern. Second, the laws of the Mishnah were harmonized and shown to be coherent. Third, the laws were exhibited to showcase their dynamic quality, which was conveyed through disputation. Fourth, the dialectical argument extended through many topics. In this book, the author systematically defines and classifies these four analytical initiatives of the Bavli.
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