VIII.

CRITERIA OF THE
KNOWLEDGE OF TRUTH
❖ We will consider the different states in which the mind
can nd itself with respect to the truth. These are the
subjective aspects of the cognitive apprehension of
being. These states are: certainty, doubt, opinion, faith,
error.
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 Certainty
❖ Certainty is the state of the mind when it adheres to a truth
rmly and without vacillation
❖ It is something subjective, a state in which one’s judgment
is rm because there is no concern about the truth of what
one has assented to
❖ There is certainty when we af rm without fear of being
mistaken.
❖ It is the most perfect state of the intellect. It is its peace and
joy, a consequence of possessing the truth.
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❖ Just as there are false peace and false joys, there are also
false certainties. It happens when one af rms a
judgment without fear of being mistaken when in fact it
is mistaken
❖ True certainty implies the awareness that one is in the
truth. This happens in the presence of evidence which is
the ultimate criterion of certainty.b
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 Types of Certainty
❖ The intellect can give assent in 2 ways: rst, when it is
moved by the object a
❖ - when the object is known in itself, like in knowing
the rst principles;
❖ -when the object is known by means of another, like
in the conclusion of a syllogism.
❖ second, when it is moved by the will as when
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❖ A judgment is given with reservations, as when giving
an opinion; and when the intellect af rms absolutely, as
when we make an act of faith.

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 Degrees of Certainty
❖ Metaphysical certainty- this is absolute certainty, a
result of the knowledge of the law of being that are
strictly necessary and do not admit any annulment.
Examples are the rst principles, mathematical
principles, intuition of simple facts like It is raining; I
exist.
❖ Physical certainty- based on the knowledge of a natural
law due to induction. If the induction is only probable,
there is no certainty: there is only opinion.

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❖ If it is rigorous, it engenders certainty but only a general
one, not absolute because there are three exceptions: 1)
the possibility of a miracle which is a suspension of the
law of nature by the author of nature; 2) possibility of a
play of natural forces of unknown cause; 3) contingency
of the individual.
❖ Moral certainty-this is the certainty proper to the moral
activities and it has a moral character. It is the certainty
based on a moral law, i.e., upon the customary natural
conduct of human beings in a given environment and
under given conditions.

 Certainty and Truth

❖ Certainty is not the same as truth, though both are closely connected.
❖ While truth is the conformity of the mind with reality, certainty is the state of
mind which, under normal circumstances, comes from nding oneself in
possession of the truth
❖ Certainty is the sureness of the subject. It can be affected by factors like free
will which can command assent to or dissent from truths which are not in
themselves evident. Thus it can happen that one is so subjectively convinced of
things which are false
❖ Certainty occurs when the intellect adheres rmly to a true proposition.
Example is when we accept right away that the whole is greater than its parts, or
that good must be done and evil must be avoided. No questions asked. The intellect
adheres rmly and unconditionally.
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 ❖ Thus, certainty is a state of the mind with respect to the

truth
❖ Properly speaking, certainty occurs when the intellect
adheres rmly to a true proposition. When the intellect
is moved by the intelligible object, the assent is
immediate. This happens in the understanding of the
rst principles, like the principle of non-contradiction:
being is not non-being.
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 Evidence
❖ EVIDENCE is the clarity with which an object appears to a
faculty of knowledge. It is the manifestation or the revelation of
being. It is the foundation or the criterion of certainty
❖ Evidence is opposed to demonstration or faith
❖ A truth is evident when it imposes itself on the mind. It cannot be
demonstrated. There is no need for demonstration. To demonstrate
is to unite with a necessary bond a proposition that is not evident to
another that is.
❖ Faith consists in af rming freely a truth that is neither evident nor
demonstrable.

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 Kinds of Evidence
❖ Intrinsic evidence- this is manifestation of the object
itself or the truth. It could be immediate intrinsic
evidence like in sensible evidence that does nor need to
be demonstrated or mediate evidence which takes place
when something appears evident after a demonstration.
The effect of evidence to the intellect: the moment it
perceives the truth, it is obliged to ascent to it
❖ Extrinsic evidence-when the truth of a judgment or a
proposition does not appear or is not in itself visible.
.

❖ Example are the testimonies that guarantee that the

event really happened. The truth of the testimony can
become evident when many independent testimonies
converge
❖ In the case of extrinsic evidence, the intellect remains
undetermined and only gives it assent by an act of the
will or act of faith.
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 Certainty and Evidence

❖ Evidence is the ultimate criterion of certainty. It is the

only thing that can justify certainty.
❖ There are however, many certainties not founded on
evidence. From the psychological point of view, there is
no direct relation, of necessary dependence, between
certainty and evidence. But from the epistemological
point of view, there is.

❖ In the history of Philosophy, some philosophers have

given as evidence criteria that are subjective like some
dispositions of the subject: Rousseau (sentiments), Kant
(will), Reid (instinct), James (success)
❖ Sentiments, feelings and instinct as immediate intuition
of the truth. Here evidence becomes the feeling that an
object or the truth is present. The intellect becomes like
a human “instinct” of the truth whose satisfaction offers
everything that is possible to hope and keep.
.

❖ When the will is considered as a criterion of truth, then

its movements and demands become the foundation of
certainty relying on the maxim the natural desire cannot
be in vain. The fact that we are by nature oriented
towards the good, brings with it a knowledge that is
confused yet certain with a felt certainty
❖ When success is a criterion of truth, the practical
consequences of a doctrine becomes the means to judge
its truth. Example is when we assert that “we believe in
the ef ciency of the computer because it is widely popular.”
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❖ All of these criteria are subjective. The basis of certainty

becomes the faculty of appetites. However, these cannot
be the ultimate criteria because they are blind. They can
provide information but they need the intellect to re ect
on them
❖ Feelings vary from one person to another even though
they have a kind of intentionality. Instinct cannot tell us
what is certain.
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❖ Criteria of certainty external to the subject are:
authority. Authority could be of God, experts, etc.
❖ To submit oneself to authority, there must be a reason, a
motive for doing so. In the case of Faith, there are the
motives of credibility.
❖ Criteria must be both external and subjective.

 Doubt
❖ Doubt is the state in which the intellect uctuates
between af rming and denying a given proposition,
without being attracted more in one direction than in
the other
❖ Doubt is a suspension of judgment. The spirit oats
between YES and NO because it does not see any reason
for af rming nor denying as it perceives equal reasons
for both.
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❖ When it does not see any reason for af rming or denying,
this is called a negative doubt.
❖ If judgment is suspended because it perceives equal
reasons, this is called positive doubt
❖ It is partial doubt when only one or some judgments are
suspended
❖ It is universal doubt when any kind of judgment is
suspended. This is not possible
❖ It is methodic doubt when doubt is taken as a mean to
discover the truth.
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 Opinion
❖ An opinion is a judgment that is not yet given rmly. It
is given with the fear of being mistaken, reserving the
possibility of a contrary judgment
❖ Opinion judges with the fear of being mistaken. The
assent is not full nor rm. In science, the assent is rm.
❖ Opinion is of itself, an estimation of the contingent, I.e.,
of that which could either be or not be. Since not
everything is contingent, not everything is a matter of
opinion.
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❖ One should not attempt to make science of what is

contingent
❖ Given the limitations of man’s knowledge, it is but
natural for man to have an opinion. We are not often
certain of many things. It is not easy to know the truth
in some situations, especially when free acts of men
come into play.
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 Faith
❖ In Faith, the will moves the intellect to assent with certainty,
based on the testimony and the authority of another, with
no hesitation about the truth of the contrary position
❖ In Faith, there is no fear of making a mistake. From the
point of view of rmness of assent, Faith is a type of
certainty
❖ Certainty may come from evidence or from Faith.
Certainty from evidence is more perfect but certainty from
Faith can be more perfect in terms of rmness of the assent.
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❖ The certainty of Faith is free since it depends on the will.

It is the will that moves the intellect to assent
❖ Ultimately, one believes because one sees that the
knowledge and truthfulness of the witness guarantee
his truth. This is called evidence of credibility. To
believe something is always to believe someone as well.

❖ Doubt is not the same as question. When one asks a

question, one is not doubting be Use there is still no
judgment to suspend. What leads one to question is
one’s desire to know.
 Error
❖ We commit mistakes but it does not mean that we have
to put everything in doubt. If so, then we would not
know if we made a mistake
❖ Error is not something positive. It is absence of truth. It
is a privation. A judgment is erroneous when it lacks the
conformity with reality
❖ Error exists in the subject that it affects, in an intellect or
in an act of the intellect.
.

❖ Error is an accident. The intellect as a faculty acts well

when it is on its own. It can’t be mistaken as regards it’s
proper object when it is presented to it e abuse it is
ordained towards it by nature
❖ As truth is conformity, error is the lack of conformity. It is
an inexactitude
❖ Error is not the same as ignorance which happens when
the intellect is not thinking about reality and therefore is
not in the act of conformity. In error, the intellect is
thinking about reality but in doing so, there is no
conformity.
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❖ Error resides formally in judgment. Only judgment can

be false. It is a real judgment it it does conform with
reality. It is not a judgment of reality. It a judgment
whose object does not exist except in the intellect that
makes it.
 Possibility of Error
❖ Error is possible because of ignorance and the
inconsistency of the human spirit
❖ The human spirit is nite. It’s knowledge in every
instance is limited. It can it acquire the whole amplitude
of reality. It needs to progress step by step to
comprehend the complexity of reality
❖ As the human spirit is also attached to a body, it
becomes subject to error as it can never have a full and
complete awareness of itself.
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 Causes of Error
❖ Strictly speaking, error has no cause because it is not
something positive. It is a pure privation. It is a defect of
the intellect in knowledge, in attention, in awareness
❖ Judgment, on the other hand, has a cause. When we talk
about causes of error, we refer to the causes of erroneous
judgment.
❖ Factors that lead the intellect to give an erroneous
judgment are: the will and the senses.

❖ The will causes the intellect to err. This is not because

error is voluntary. Error is never wanted formally, i.e.,
insofar as it is an error. It is not wanted because it means
that error is known as error, and once it is known, it
ceases to be error. It is not wanted also because error is
an evil, and evil is never an object of an intention
❖ What is wanted in an erroneous judgment is not the
error but the judgment. The judgment is a good, even if
it is erroneous (though it is not known as erroneous)
because it puts an end to a search, a doubt or a
restlessness. Error is the result of rushing into judgment.

❖ When the will judges in spite of the absence of evidence, it

is sometimes not a deliberate judgment
❖ We fall less in error when we give our opinion than when
we give a judgment
❖ Another cause of error are our senses. The senses do not act
directly upon the intellect and will because they belong to a
different order. The senses provide the intellect with its
object
❖ The senses can be deceived in what is not their proper
object. The imagination, for example, can make up
representations that do not correspond to reality.
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❖ The memory is weak but could in uence the

imagination. Our feelings can orient our attention
according to their own convenience.

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End