PHILOSOPHY On Truth and Atheism

SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER COLLEGE SEMINARY
Seminary Road, Catalunan Grande, Davao City
PERRY NEIL GELLICA-PATAYON
Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Concept of Truth and the

Modern problems of Atheism
A Term paper
presented to
FR. RUSSELL A. BANTILES, PH. D.
Davao City 2013

Table of Contents
ABBREVIATION ....................................................................................................................................iii
INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 1
CHAPTER I .............................................................................................................................................. 5
The World of Atheism ............................................................................................................................. 5
A. Definition and Historical background ....................................................................................... 7
A.1. Negative Meaning of Atheism ............................................................................................ 7
A.2. Positive Meaning of Atheism .............................................................................................. 8
A.3. Origin and Historical Background of Atheism ................................................................. 9
B. Atheism vs. Theism .................................................................................................................... 13
C. Forms of Atheism and its problems in the Modern World ................................................... 15
CHAPTER II .......................................................................................................................................... 19
‚quinas Concept of Truth ................................................................................................................... 19
A. Saint Thomas ‚quinas concept of truth it s foundation and formation .......................... 20
B. Different Concepts of truth that are relevant to Saint Thomas concept of truth ............... 29
A.1. Theories on truth from the 20th Century .......................................................................... 29
A.2. Concept of truth from different philosophers ................................................................ 32
C. Critiques, opposition and defense about ‚quinas concept of truth .................................... 35
CHAPTER III ......................................................................................................................................... 43
The Truth and Atheism ......................................................................................................................... 43
A. The Incompatibility of Truth and Atheism ............................................................................. 44
B. Proofs on how Aquinas concept of Truth solve the Modern problems of Atheism ........... 50
C. Suggested course of action its practicability and beneficiality........................................... 54
CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................... 61
BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................................. 65
ABBREVIATION
Cfr. Confer
Ed. Editor
ed. Edition
trans. Translated
vol. volume
p. page
pp. pages
N/A no author
S. Th. Summa Theologiae

INTRODUCTION
Two-thousand years ago, Jesus was handed over to Pontius Pilate, the person
who judged Jesus trial and authorized his crucifixion. When Jesus declared, Everyone
who is of the truth hears My voice. Pilate responded with a question, saying, what is
truth? Cfr. John : 3 -38) This question of the Roman procurator is until now
reiterated in every mind of each human beings. This has been the very core of every
search and inquiry made by an individual person the TRUTH.
History tells us that human beings have the incessant desire to search for the
truth. It has always been the object of his thinking. This truth is said to be the
fundamental tool in order to perfect one s intellect and to build one s guiding principles
and beliefs in life. However, as man continuously quest for the truth, it confusingly led
him to inquire, Where can one find the truth? and How many truths are there? It
continually stirs the mind of every individual who struggles to grasp the attainment of
truth.
After numerous searches, some philosophers have discovered and established
several aspects of truth. Unfortunately, since human knowledge is limited, some of their
discoveries fall into absurdity and confusions, and some are even considered wrong or
erroneous. To resolve the confusion, some philosophers cling to the idea that there must
only be one truth.
Truth, as defined by Gottfried Leibniz , cannot be found except in one
single source. He assumed this statement because of the interconnection of all
things with one another. In his definition of truth, we can see that there must be an
absolute truth, which is the fount of all other truths. It speaks then of an origin of all
other truths that are discovered.

2
In the works and writings of Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), he stated that,
things are in so far said to be true by their relation to the one primary truth (Cfr.
Summa Theologiae, Q 16, A 6). And this he refer to the idea of a God, the Supreme Being
who is the source of all truths. However, there are certain people who rejected Saint
Thomas notion of God as Truth. These people are called atheists . They persistently
deny God s existence. Thus, eliminating and opposing the notion that He is the source
of all truth.
There is, therefore, a necessity to study and to discuss the notion of truth in view
of God as the one primary Truth. This will be given and pointed out by touching the
works and writings of one of the most prominent philosopher-theologian of all time,
Saint Thomas Aquinas.
Moreover, the refutation made by atheism against Saint Thomas notion of truth
must also be well thought-out in order to make a clear understanding between the two
contradicting ideas. Concerning both assertions of Saint Thomas and of the
nonbelievers, one is urged to know and comprehend the underlying relationship of
both claims, in order to amend the problems and disorders that are currently happening
in the modern period, particularly the modern problems brought by atheism.
This study analyzes the concept of truth by Saint Thomas Aquinas. His concept is
seen as the paradigm that responds to the modern problems of atheism. As a
philosopher-theologian, he modified, affirmed, and used some philosophies of several
known philosophers from the past, particularly the Greek philosophers Plato and
Aristotle. He also used some statements and ideas from the famous bishops and doctors
of the church, specifically Saint Anselm and Saint Augustine.

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Against the arguments of the nonbelievers to the truth about God, he presented
clearly and undisputedly eight points of inquiry concerning truth in his work, Summa
Theologiae. By this, the researcher stresses out three articles from Saint Thomas concept
of truth, namely the first article which discusses whether truth resides in the intellect or
in things (S. Th. Q 16, A 1), the fifth article which elaborates God as truth (S. Th. Q 16, A
5), and the sixth article which reveals the only one truth according to which all things
are true (S. Th. Q 16, A 6).
This research is composed of three chapters beginning from the general view of
‚theism up to the solution drawn out from Saint Thomas notion of truth in the modern
problems of atheism. In the first chapter of the study, one enables to know the general
description of the term atheism, both the positive and negative implication it give to
human life. It also includes the historical background of atheism, how it was formed
and organized into a belief. Furthermore, the opposing ideas between the theists and
atheists are discussed to elaborate the clash and disagreement between the two sets of
claims. Lastly, the first chapter deals with the different forms of atheism and the diverse
problems and conflicts it brought in the modern world.
In the second chapter, Saint Thomas concept of truth is examined as well as the
general view of how he formulated and put together his works through modifying the
philosophies of the ancient Greek philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, and applies it in his
philosophical and theological studies. The said chapter also includes the critiques and
compliments made by some known philosophers and writers to the concept of Saint
Thomas on truth.
In the final chapter, the two ideas are contrasted and their irreconcilability are
made evident. To wrap up, the capacity of truth in answering the modern problems of
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atheism is recognized. From this, the study is concluded with proposed courses of
action to address the problems presented in the study.
This study derives most of its explanation from the two major works of Saint
Thomas Aquinas, the Summa Theologiae and the Summa Contra Gentiles. In addition, to
have a more vivid, balance, and firm presentation, books under the category ‚theism
are also used. Books like the Atheism and Alienation by P. Masterson, What Modern
Catholic believes about God by A. Greeley, Modern Atheism by E. Borne, and Religion in
Contemporary Thought by G. Mclean, are few of books cited as sources to help us
understand the nature, causes, and aims of atheism.
In addition to that, books under the category Philosophy of Religion namely
Christian Philosophy by J. de Torre, and The Existence of God by P.G. Horrigan are also
cited as sources to make the concept of Saint Thomas on truth be understood and
absorbed in the study. The internet is also a valuable source of information. Some
contemporary articles are quoted from the net.
To start with, the Chapter One of the study is well-organized and is arranged
coherently in order to see clearly the nature of Atheism.

CHAPTER I
The World of Atheism
It amazes me to find an intelligent

person who fights against something [Idea about God]
which he does Not at all believe exists.
Mahatma Gandhi -
E
very person has the right to uncover and to express what he believes
in. His sets of ideals, principles, and beliefs will show a better image of
who he really is and what kind of life he is living. Man, throughout
the centuries develops sets of thoughts and concepts that continually influence the
whole world, its people, and their actions. The belief about a certain religion for that
matter shows other people about a knowledge and conviction that a person acquires
and believes as true.
In fact, even in the pre-historic period, various beliefs arouse which became the
fundamental guide of our ancestors. Particularly, the Greeks and the Romans believed
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in certain deities or gods in order to conform laws which they believed as a command
coming from the gods. Often times, they even attributed to the gods specific characters
and powers, including the causes of certain occurrences. For instance, they thank their
gods for the good harvest during the season. This is known as polytheism, a belief of
certain deities.
Patrick Masterson, in his book entitled Atheism and Alienation, stated that the
affirmation of God is indisputably one of the most noteworthy of human achievements.
It is because of its various historical expressions that speak profoundly of man s
appraisal of his own condition his perfection and weakness, his ideals and failures,
and even his hopes and fears. It symbolizes in a most striking fashion his endeavor to
make sense both his aspirations and his limitations1.
Likewise, Andrew Greeley, in his book entitled What Modern Catholic believes
about God, affirmed that when man speaks of God, he is asserting what his convictions
are about ultimate reality. He specified that a man who says he does not believe in
God is merely rejecting a set of convictions about the ultimate reality which he links
with the term God . In addition, man is also stating explicitly or implicitly his own
ultimate concept of reality. For he who asserts that he does not believe in God is in fact
asserting that he does not believe in certain other people s God, and that he does not
like to use the category, God, when describing his own ultimate cultural system 2. It
shows the capacity of man to choose since he is endowed with the gift of freedom. He
can freely reject or accept a certain belief anytime he wanted.
1
Cfr. MASTERSON, P., Atheism and Alienation: A Study of the philosophical sources of Contemporary
Atheism, University of Notre Dame Press, Indiana, January 1971, p. ix.
2
Cfr. GREELEY, A., What Modern Catholic believes about God, Thomas More Press, Chicago, 1971, p.
18. Greeley noted, “Man is perfectly within his rights in choosing his mode of expression and also in
rejecting other people’s interpretative schemes, but man will miss the whole point if he thinks he has
ended the discussion when he asserts that there is no God.”
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In this chapter, a clear view of atheism will be presented for further
understanding and knowledge about its true nature. This chapter will also provide the
readers a sort of information of the root causes of atheism, including the danger it has
brought to human life.
A. Definition and Historical background
The word atheism stems from the Greek adjective atheos, deriving from the
alpha privative a- without, not and Theos- God . It is obviously opposite to the idea
of theism which we refer to as a belief in a deity.
Atheism is an undeniable fact of our experiences. Man possesses the power,
whether he knows what he is doing or not, to reject and oppose wisdom 3. It is clearly
confirmed that man chooses to believe or not, based on the conformity of what his mind
tells him and what the outside world tells him, whether the two affirm each other, or
the other way around.
Thus, defined as a doctrine, or theory, or philosophy formally opposed to theism,
atheism can only signify the teaching of those schools, whether cosmological or moral,
which do not include God either as a principle or as a conclusion of their reasoning4.
A.1. Negative Meaning of Atheism
In its negative sense, atheism signifies a belief or doctrine that denies the
existence of god, gods, or a particular deity such as God for Christianity. In this sense,
the term has referred to what certain men did not believe, that is, a-theism5.
3
Cfr. BORNE, E., Modern Atheism: A Faith and Fact book, Hawthorn Books Inc., London, 1961, p. 18.
This is the translation of Dieun’est pas mort, Volume 90 in the Je sais-Je crois series
(LibrairieArthemeFayard, Paris).
4
Cfr. AVELING, F., "Atheism." In The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, Apr. 26, 2010,
<<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02040a.htm>>, Last consulted on January 19, 2013.
8
Primarily, atheists reject the notion that there is God, and this has clearly meant
that they do not want to include the term god to characterize an object of their belief
concerning what is supremely significant. Since an atheist failed to recognize God, he
distinguishes his personal belief from that of a theist6.
During the first century of Christianity, atheism was alleged as an opposing
belief of the said religion for it led to early Christological controversies, also known as
heresies. Several groups of people falsely presumed ideas that contradict the teachings of
the church. The Arians who separated God from Christ, the Modalist who denied the
personalities of the Trinity, and the Nestorians who affirmed separated nature in Jesus
Christ, are just few of the heresies considered by the early church councils as atheistic
for being mistaken in the idea about God7.
The term atheistic might also be applied to the mystical view of God such as that
of Eckart, which holds that man becomes God, Spinoza s concept of God as naturalistic
and impersonal, and Mill s concept of God as limited. Truly, atheism has gone too far in
diverting man s faith and knowledge about God. It meant not only a conceptual denial
of God, but a correlative denial of certain important values that is sustain by the
believers, both in theory and in practice8.
A.2. Positive Meaning of Atheism
The second major meaning of the term atheism pertains to the positive side of
human thought and action with respect to religion, that is, to the effort of men to realize
5
Cfr. MCLEAN, G., Religion in Contemporary Thought: Atheism and Man, Society of St. Paul, Staten
Island, 1973, p. 151.
6
Cfr. MCLEAN, G., Religion..., p. 151.
7
Cfr. MCLEAN, G., Religion..., pp. 151-152.
8
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and reconstruct values. Most, if not all, atheism has contained not only a negative and
critical, but also a positive and creative movement9.
If not most, certainly many atheistic critics of religious concepts of God have
proposed positive alternatives to the traditional religious views concerning the meaning
of the world and history and the significance of human living. Such influential atheism
of ancient times as early Buddhism, Jainism, early Taoism, and Epicureanism were
constructive and affirmative on the issue of human values and fulfillment10. The critique
of idolatry and the impulse to purify devotion within the history of Christianity has
been a forceful and productive tradition. Christian theology has changed and evolved
in response to critical challenges both inside and outside the faith11.
A.3. Origin and Historical Background of Atheism
In this segment, the researcher emphasizes the numerous facets in life that cause
the rise of atheism. Ever since, most atheists ascribe their act of disbelief to some of their
experiences and situations in life. The world of atheism, simply cast anchor to the
advent of new ideologies which we consider as the prevalent causes of why atheism
exists.
It primarily rooted in the ancient times, where the critique of the gods arose in
response to the basic economic and social conflicts in the slave societies 12. History shows
that the injustices and sufferings experienced by the ancient people gave way to the
development of their new beliefs and formulate new ideas. This is to reconstruct their
ways of living, neglecting the possibility of changing the concept of their religion. It
9
10
11
12
10
denotes that belief are sometimes decreased and diverted into another sets of beliefs
mainly because of the experiences undergone by men.
Furthermore, the presence of evil is also one among the many causes of disbelief
in God. The critique on the presence of evil is for them a good reason compelling people
to deny the existence of an invisible God. The person s unhappiness, wickedness, death,
and sufferings produce sickness and dullness of his intellect. These things induce him to
think wrongly and fall into revolt and denial13. The focal point of this idea evolves in
some people s uncertainty in their belief in God, for they resolved that an absolute
good, which they refer to God, cannot coexist with evil. Since evil is a-theist, godless or
even exclusive of God, it forbids us to postulate an absolute good. As a result, they
supposed that God is impossible14. It also steered to an idea that God is only a product
of human imagination. In fact, they asserted that man is the highest being in the
universe.
As an outcome, atheism marked out itself as a form of humanism and claims to
have itself brought man to the limit of his powers and capabilities15.It teaches man to
give higher value and importance to himself rather than any other belief that might win
his aspiration of self-mastery. In addition, the atheistic philosopher Karl Marx said that
man could only become his master if he owes his existence to no one but himself16.
Consequently, humanism tries to repel the idea of religion and of God, in order to
prioritize man and his very own self, and thus promotes atheism. It only shows that
atheism is the most significant expression of man s representation of himself to himself.
Without any doubt, it proposes itself as a post-theistic phenomenon, it professes to
13
Cfr. BONRE, E., Modern Atheism, p. 23.
14
Cfr. BORNE, E., Modern Atheism, pp. 24-25.
15
Cfr. BORNE, E., Modern Atheism, p. 30.
16
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convey a more reflective and authentic image of man than that portrayed in any version
of theism17.
The concept of humanism branched-out into several ideas adapted by few
atheistic philosophers. Ludwig Feuerbach, the father of modern atheism, presented his
idea of God through explaining that it is imbedded in man s attempts to project the
various qualities that he has in himself onto a divine person. According to him, God
would be nothing but the fantastic representation of the absolute dominion of the
human will over nature, and the complete satisfaction of all human desires. He
supplemented that the task of philosophy is to show that God did not created man, but
rather, it was man who created God18.
The analysis of the above claim presentation of Feuerbach, revolves around the
concept of man as the only master and dictator of reality. The gist of it, is that men,
though having the ability to think of a higher being (God), will end up realizing that the
higher being he is thinking of is his self.
It is assumed that man sees his nature as if outside of himself, before he finds it
in himself. Man s own nature is in the first instance contemplated by him as that of
another being. God is nothing more than this alienated way of viewing the human
essence as though it were another being19.
Karl Marx, the most influential atheist of all time, also adapted Humanism. He
projected that religion and God is the opium of the people . Man, for him, suffers from
a religious alienation. He illustrated this through the relationship between the
17
Cfr. MASTERSON, P., Atheism..., p. ix.
18
Cfr. HORRIGAN, P.G., The Existence of God, Copyright 2003, p. 46. Ludwig Feuerbach is an ex-theology
student turned atheist philosopher, he resolved theology into anthropology and transformed idealism into
materialism.
19
Cfr. HORRIGAN, P.G., The Existence of God, p. 46-47.
12
proletariat (working class) and the capitalists (exploiting class). Religion, he said, makes
the working class forget their oppression by concentrating their attention on heavenly
things that might not exist. He concluded that religion had only deceived the workers
into believing that they will be amply rewarded in the next life for the injustices done to
them. Hence, they will only sheepishly submit to being trodden down and defrauded
by the exploiting class20.
Marx s point in his statement is that, human, in order to be exulted and come to
full awareness of his true essence and value, must abolish his belief in God and religion,
for this will only thwart his way of finding his true self. Furthermore, religion for Marx
will only let people tolerate the abuses of others due to their idea that religion will
comfort them. Thus, atheism rejects religion for the idea that it will only give illusory
happiness which in turn hampers man s attainment of real happiness.
On the other hand, the last and the most profound reason of why the atheistic
atmosphere still exists today, is the idea of Immanentism. According to the book
entitled The Existence of God, authored by Paul Gerard Horrigan, the principle of
Immanentism is intrinsically atheistic and coincides with the radical assertion of
atheism21. For Rene Descartes, human thought is prior to being: things are or exist as far
as they are in human consciousness. He assumed that human thought is the first reality
before the outside world22. In short, the idea of immanentism implies that God did not
exist because the mind says so. They alleged that what does not appeal to the senses
20
Cfr. HORRIGAN, P.G., The Existence of God, p. 50. Karl Marx’s philosophy of communism ruled, at its
maximum expansion in the late 1970s, nearly a third of the people of the earth until the collapse of the
Soviet Union in 1989.
21
Cfr. HORRIGAN, P.G., The Existence of God,p. 44-45.
22
Cfr. DE TORRE, J., Christian Philosophy, 3rd ed., Sinag-Tala Publisher, Manila, 1980, p. 131. The word
Immanence means, “remaining in”: philosophy begins in human consciousness and remains there. This is
the philosophical principle of immanence, which has inevitably led to all sorts of atheism.
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cannot be approved by the mind for it has no act of being. Hence, they claim that it does
not exist. This was the theory presented by Immanentism to the modern world.
Truly, there can be many causes of atheism which made a leap of changes in the
society up to the present, both in personal and in public. These ideas and origin of
atheism are deep-rooted in the criticism of man against the belief of God and religion.
Atheism exists because it negates the idea of theism and its claims.
B. Atheism vs. Theism
This section shows the connection and relationship of theism and atheism. In
what way they contradict and oppose each other.
There is a common perception that there must be something more to atheism
than simply disbelief in gods because of the fact that atheists are so often engaged in
debates with theists. There is a category of debate which does involve something
beyond atheism. That is when debates are engaged by atheists not simply as
nonbelievers, but as nonbelievers who are specifically working to promote reason and
skepticism. In this manner, the specifics of the debate may be about theism and religion,
but the purpose of the debate is supposed to be about the encouragement of reason,
skepticism, and critical thinking any encouragement of atheism is incidental to that23.
The gist of their plan is to completely convert the world into a godless civilization by
uphold their beliefs in the course of arguments and debates.
But basically, it has been said that the essence of atheism the alpha privatium is
proof is a negation. Now a negation only takes its meaning from the idea it opposes.
So there could be as many forms of atheism as there are ideas of God to be attacked or
Cfr. CLINE, A., “Why do Atheists debate Theists?”, in Agnosticism/Atheism,

23
<<http://atheism.about.com/od/atheismquestions/a/whydebate.htm>>, Last consulted February 22, 2013.

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denied24. It implies that the birth of atheism came out due to the contradicting ideas
and beliefs between the unbeliever and the believer.
Many contemporary critiques of religion, and some counter-critiques as well,
assume that the materialistic and skeptics of the eighteenth century had successfully
made out the intellectual case against religion. They said that religious beliefs persist
only because of the profound human needs rooted in the social or psychological
conditions of human living25. They alleged that the human desires and needs are the
primary reasons why people still do believe in God or religion up to the present era.
However, the theists have held that if man did not believe in God and worship
him, he could neither really understand the order of values which are ultimately
created and sustained by God, nor in practice they can fulfill those values26.The focal
point of the statement rotates at the very action of man in the physical world. He has to
understand God s existence as he follows the norms and good values of his society, for
God is the source of all those values. Traditionally, theists believe not merely that God
exists nor or has existed as long as created things also exist, since they believe that God
is an eternal being. This explicitly means that he has always existed that there was no
time at which he did not exist, for he always has the properties which humans have
been considering since the beginning27.
On the other hand, there are so many different religions that are hard to prove
that one of them is more credible than the other. Some religions are contradicting, while
some are minor variations of others.
24
25
Cfr. KAI, N., Contemporary Critiques of Religion, Herder and Herder, New York, 1971, p. 1.
26
27
Cfr. SWINBURNE, R., The Coherence of Theism, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1977, pp. 210-211.
15
The two groups, theists and atheists, are very different from each other. Theism
relies on the need to prove itself right and therefore in certain cases trying to prove
other theories wrong. Some theists also feel it is their duty to spread their theology to
other people in the world. It is such a wide and diverse group. However, it includes all
religions and any other people that still believe in a higher power without committing
to a certain religion having different groups and ideas being spread around the world 28.
The problem lies on the principle that two contradictory ideas cannot both exist
at the same time, one must be affirmed and the other must be denied. Hence, the clash
between theism and atheism remains an issue from the ancient times up to the present.
Truly, atheism had made some confusion. It created distinct and contradicting
ideas which oppose religion. This may not only result to combats between minds, but
may also bring conflicts and problems due to misunderstandings and refutations.
C. Forms of Atheism and its problems in the Modern World
The world today is precisely surrounded by different beliefs and ideologies, and
these beliefs brought problems due to what people hold and claim as true. The problem
with modern atheism is that its followers do not seem to have a firm grasp on the fact
that religion is a part of our modern culture. Furthermore, the emergence of atheism led
atheists to infringe on the rights of others who do choose to believe in God. Many of
them persecute some people who freely choose to follow a religion and have a belief in
Cfr. ROSE, J. “Atheism vs. Theism”, in Atheism vs. theism, Ezine Articles, (February 15, 2006),
28
<<http://ezinearticles.com/?Atheism-Vs-Theism&id=146022.htm>>, Last consulted on January 19, 2013.

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God29. This implies that they reject the presence of a religious civilization, and tries to
repel its ideas in the modern world, through their opinions and objections.
Nevertheless, the problem resides more in the moral aspect of man rather than in
the intellectual. People began to act according to what they think is right. The disbelief
of God makes him realize that the goodness or wickedness of his acts and decisions
depend on him. There is a type of atheism which does not consist in denying that God
exists, but ignoring God, living as if God did not exist. It is called Practical Atheism30.
This is the most common problem to people nowadays, the godlessness of their
actions, these individuals know that there is God, yet they assume that God has nothing
to do with their daily living. This is a kind of self-deception and an insult, since the
awareness and belief about God is there, and basically, what the religions taught people
as to what is good and moral must also come to his awareness. Practical atheists, are
certainly known for their rejection of the principles and teachings of their religion,
therefore, it is a life living without God.
Militant atheism is defined as an active, aggressive, propagandistic atheism which
conducts an intellectual warfare against God and the believers of God, with the goal of
constructing a truly godless social order.31 This form of atheism aims not only to profess
their own belief that God does not exist, they have the goal of influencing the whole
humanity to believe in their claim that there is no God.
The abovementioned will definitely lead to conflicts, because of the fact that
some people are firm and strong in their beliefs and religion. If two contradicting sets of
29
Cfr. CLINE, A., “The problems of Atheism and why Atheists are so pompous”, in Agnosticism/Atheism,
(May 7, 2008), <<http://atheism.about.com/b/2008/05/07/the-problem-with-atheism-why-atheists-are-so-
pompous.htm>>, Last consulted on February 22, 2013.
30
Cfr. DE TORRE, J.,Christian Philosophy, p. 130.
31
Cfr. HORRIGAN, P.G., Existence of God, p. 44.
17
ideas and beliefs will emerge in this world, it will simply result to a tug of war that
might create chaos to and destruction of the whole humankind.
It is believed human life has reached its lowest quotation in century. Instead of
being ennobled or exalted, it happened that man has been degraded and devalued. He
is being reduced to economic categories, herded into war massacres, extermination
camps and abortion clinics, in unbelievably astronomic figures32.
Atheism has undeniably brought man into a world of deception. It is said in
earlier part of this research that atheism as a humanistic idea, will bring man into the
highest peak or realizing his value and importance and making himself the creator of
the world. This seems to be true. Yet the problem lies on who among men has the
greatest value, if men made himself the creator of the world, the question of on whose
particular laws and principles will be considered as the primary to which they will
abide.
Certain question of whether atheism will make man the master of his self, or a
servant of his ideas, whether atheism will prove man as a rational being, or it will only
make him act like a brute.
As Fr. de Torre stated in his book Christian Philosophy that if man is left without God,
he does not know where to go. He has no goal, and so he is lost33.
These problems created by atheism in the modern world, are the immutable
conflict and argument, which continually and gradually destroy the relationship of
humans due to their contrasting beliefs.
32
Cfr. DE TORRE, J., Christian Philosophy, p. 131.
33
Cfr. DE TORRE, J., Christian Philosophy, p. 131.
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In a nutshell, the whole chapter is rationally discussing the truths about atheism
and the significance of studying it as a theist. The whole research takes on its accounts
the meaning and nature of atheism, its various origins and historical background, its
opposition to theism, and its forms and problems in the modern world. The researcher
had gathered and formulated thoroughly the writings of the different authors, in order
to make a firm view of the whole study and to show how the concept of Saint Thomas
Aquinas on Truth will solve the problems atheism brought to the modern world, which
will be discussed in the next chapter of this research.
Finally, Atheism as an important topic to be discussed in Philosophy,
particularly in the field of theodicy and natural theology, will help man to reasonably
make his own stand on the issues of faith and disbelief in today s world.
CHAPTER II
Aquinas’ Concept of Truth
I am the WAY, the TRUTH,
And the LIFE.
-Jn. 14:6
T
he dilemma about the claim on whether God exists or not has been
discussed and argued for many years since the birth of religious
consciousness. Issues and questions of whether God is true or not,
keep on stirring our human mind in order for us to grasp the fundamental truth behind
the unending debate on the said topic.

20
The world has gone through perplexity and confusion since the birth of various
contradicting schools of thoughts in this contemporary era. People are baffled and
disarrayed due to the different incompatible ideas and philosophies presented and
claimed as true by several mental giants. In these present times, people learned to
embrace some of the thoughts and philosophies fed by the prominent philosophers into
their minds, which became the fount of their principles and codes in their daily living,
primarily in their actions and decisions.
In our day, we are indeed surrounded with different ideologies. However, man
by nature, as defined by the Greek philosopher Aristotle, has the desire to know the
truth. For the truth is the object of his thinking.
Yet, in this vast and enormous cosmos, there can only be one truth, by which all
things are true. It has been revealed to us in the past, and man will someday be
enlightened by re-searching it. He has to chase the truth, not according to what his
mind speaks but according to the absolute and unalterable truth.
In this chapter, a clear vision of the notion of Saint Thomas Aquinas on Truth
anchored in ancient philosophies, and fluctuated by the verification and critiques of
other philosophers, will be presented for a sound and complete understanding of the
topic.
A. Saint Thomas Aquinas’ concept of truth – it’s foundation and formation
The brilliant and the most influential of the medieval philosopher-theologians of
the thirteenth century, Saint Thomas Aquinas, whose writings and thoughts are
continually studied by different fields of Philosophy and Theology, has served number
21
of teleological, ontological, and cosmological explanation, dealing primarily with the
questions on truth and existence of God. This part will show how the notion of Saint
Thomas on truth which he anchored in the ancient philosophy and used in his
theological studies, developed a firm foundation in the areas of Christian faith and
human reason.
According to Fr. Joseph de Torre, in his book Christian Philosophy, truth is not
something that can be nationalized, since it belongs to all cultures and races, that is, to
all men34. It is then implied, that truth is not something private nor can it be deprived to
others. However, some people especially in the period of history, though they have the
capacity to know the truth are still hindered because the absolute truth which is
obvious, is somewhat distorted by many figures in the world. Some have even built
their own philosophies based on the unproven facts they possessed.
Yet, many Christian theologians, accepted truths reached by the primitive
people, like the pagans, and established them as truths of natural philosophy. But these
theologians improved them by purifying them from errors, and making them clearer by
comparing them with the Divine Revelation which is the Truth communicated by
God35.
In fact, this is how Saint Thomas Aquinas wisely developed his works and
writings. He built an undisputed concept on truth by recognizing and improving the
notions of the ancient philosophers, namely Plato and Aristotle. Hence, before we
discuss St. Thomas notion of truth, we must consider and review first some of the
philosophies of the ancient truth-seekers.
34
Cfr. DE TORRE, J.,Christian Philosophy, 3rd ed., Vera-Reyes Inc., Philippines, 1980, p. 275.
35
22
It is said in the book entitled Socrates to Sartre and beyond that the foundation of
Plato s philosophy is his account of knowledge. ‚ccordingly, Plato was convinced that
there are unchanging and universal truths, which human reason is capable of grasping,
and he staunchly rejected the skeptical view of the Sophist (philosophers who emerged
in Athens), that human knowledge was grounded in social customs and the perceptions
of individual people 36. In Plato s metaphor of the Divided Line, he provided more details
about the level of knowledge by enumerating four processes:
First is the imagining where we confront images, or the least amount of reality.
In here, Plato elaborates simply the sense experience of appearances wherein
we take these appearances as true reality. Second is the belief, according to Plato,
people tend to feel a strong sense of certainty when they observe visible and
tangible things. He also added that seeing may give us a degree of certainty, but
it is not absolute certainty. He even supposed that the state of mind produced
by visible objects is clearly on a level higher than imagining, because it is based
upon a higher form of reality. The third one is thinking, in here, he moves from
the visible world to the intelligible world and from the realm of opinion to the
realm of knowledge. All Plato is saying is that if people view all things as they
really are, they would discover that all things are related and connected.
Thinking or reasoning from hypotheses gives people knowledge of truth, but it
bears this limitation: It isolates some truths from others thereby leaving
people s minds still to ask why a certain truth is true. ‚nd the last one is the
perfect intelligence. Since we are never satisfied as long as we must still ask for a
fuller explanation of things, the grasping of the relation of everything to
everything else is required that they see the unity of the whole reality, with
36
Cfr. STUMPF, S.E., AND FIESER J., Socrates to Sartre and Beyond, 8th ed., McGraw-Hill, New York City,
2008, p. 43.
23
perfect intelligence they are completely released from the realm of sensible
objects37.
Plato s notion of knowing reality is not the mere used of sensation. He assumed
that there is a higher degree of knowing the truth by abstracting what is in the physical
world rather than simply rely on the senses. Further, he said that we cannot be sure of
what we observe, and so he established that reality is found in the intellect.
At this moment, Saint Thomas notion of Truth will be connected to Plato s idea
of knowledge, in order for us to know how he made used of Plato s notion of
knowledge in his philosophical and theological works. For Saint Thomas, Truth does
not only resides in the intellect, but also in things, the true is in the intellect in so far as it
is conformed to the object understood, the aspect of the true must pass from the intellect
to the object understood, so that also the thing understood is said to be true in so far as
it has some relation to the intellect. 38

Therefore, truth cannot be found only in the
mind, for it can only be found when the mind and the things meet at some point and
agree, that is, when the mind conforms to things.
In addition, the early philosophers held that the object about which we judge is
reality itself either concrete existing things, their attributes, and their relations, or else
entities. The existence of which is merely conceptual or imaginary, as in drama, poetry,
or fiction, but in any case entities that are real in the sense that their being is other than
our present thought about them39. This automatically implies that the world (reality of
objects) came first before the mind abstracts it. In itself things around are real, yet the
mind crosses through judgment when it began to accept and reject some of the
37
Cfr. STUMPF, S.E., AND FIESER J., Socrates to Sartre..., pp. 45-49.
38
Cfr. AQUINAS, T., Summa Theologica I, Q 16, A 1. (From here on, S. Th.).
39
Cfr. WALKER, L., "Truth." In The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 15., Robert Appleton Company, New
York City, (1912), <<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15073a.htm.>> Last consulted on Apr. 26 2010.
24
presented reality. Hence, for us to attain the truth, the mind must never be independent
on the reality around us.
Hence, we cannot absolutely rely on our intellects. Saint Thomas said that if we
speak of truth, as it exists in the intellect, according to its proper nature, then there
might be a possibility that there are many truths in many created intellects, and even in
the same intellect, that is, according to the number of things known. On the other hand,
if we speak of truth as it is in things, then all things are considered true by one primary
truth to which each one is assimilated according to its own entity40. Therefore, truth
cannot be subjective; instead, it should always be objective, in order not to base it on
individual s viewpoint and fall into bias.
The philosophy of Aristotle will also be discussed, in order for us to know how
St. Thomas anchored his theological studies to that of Aristotle. Aristotle deals with a
type of knowledge that he thought could be most rightly called wisdom. He observed
that some people know only what they had experienced through their senses, yet
Aristotle disregarded this as a form of wisdom. Instead, he projects that wisdom is
similar to the knowledge possessed by the scientists in which they begin by using their
senses, and repeating these sense experiences. Finally, a person must go beyond sense
experience by thinking about the causes of the objects of his/her experience. This study
of Aristotle goes beyond the subject matter of other sciences and is concerned with the
knowledge of true reality41. It speaks profoundly of the ideas which are beyond physical
yet comprehensible and reasonable.
The above-mentioned philosophy of Aristotle is one of the fundamental
principles which the philosopher-theologian, Saint Thomas, used as an explanation of
40
Cfr. S. Th., Q 16, A 6.
41
Cfr. STUMPF, S.E., AND FIESER J., Socrates to Sartre..., pp. 73-74.
25
the existence a Supreme Being God. If a person achieves a higher knowledge called
wisdom, he will come to know the ultimate reasons and causes of things even if it
cannot be observed by the mere use of the senses. This will provide reasonable
explanations to his doubts and questions. Through this, the ultimate truth will be
known.
Aristotle, at some point, disagreed with his mentor Plato. In particular, he sought
to answer the question where reality is . For ‚ristotle, reality is in the sensible world,
not in the world of ideas (concept of Plato). He means that, we have to start with the
material world, that is, the world of motion of things that move. He called this
physics, meaning things that move . Then, from Physics, he goes to Metaphysics,
which deals with what is beyond physics42.
He uses the words matter and form to describe any specific thing. Where it seems
to have in mind the distinction between what something is made of and what it is made
into43. Unlike Plato, Aristotle made it clear that the elements that compose the thing do
not exist separately from the form of the thing. Moreover, he was convinced that the
elements that compose a certain thing together with the form of that thing, made the
thing more understandable. For example, we cannot see a finite thing without any form,
for there has to be a particular or even an irregular form in order for it to exist and be
known.
However, turning the form into another form is another thing we call it change.
Aristotle said that all things involve a process of change. Moreover, he said that each
thing possesses a power to become what its form has set as its end 44. This means that a
42
Cfr. DE TORRE, J., Christian Philosophy, p. 273
43
Cfr. STUMPF, S.E., AND FIESER J., Socrates to Sartre..., p. 76.
44
Cfr. STUMPF, S.E., AND FIESER J., Socrates to Sartre..., pp. 76-77
26
thing aside from being what it is in the present moment, has the ability to change into
another thing or object. Furthermore, a thing has a tendency to develop and transform
into a different thing. Moreover, Aristotle added that if all were involved in change,
then everything would partake of potentiality or the tendency to become another object.
However, as what has been observed, in order to have something potential, there must
already be something actual. And so, Aristotle thought that it was necessary to assume
the existence of some actuality at a level above potential or perishing things which is the
starting point of everything 45. And so, Aristotle began to develop the idea that there
must have been a God. He developed the notion of a being that is a Pure Act, without
any possibility of becoming or turning into another. That is, at the highest level of being
the First Mover.
This is how ‚ristotle rationally formed the concept of God as true . Yet, even if
it is convincing, it is still considered imperfect by Saint Thomas. Because even if he
conceived God as the First mover, or a Pure Act and conceived Him as the Final cause,
he did not see God as the efficient cause (the cause by which a thing is made or
developed) of the movements taking place here in the universe. Because for him, God is
only the first mover, and all the succeeding motions on earth, go by themselves46.
Consequently, the Theists, specifically the Christians, refuted this idea, since God is for
them always active, and is omnipresent.
With this, several notions about the truth of God continually persisted during the
medieval period. It was alleged that God is not true, since truth is defined as the
likeness to a thing from which the human mind receives knowledge. But in God
humans cannot receive knowledge out from their senses and faculties. Hence, it was
45
Cfr. STUMPF, S.E., AND FIESER J., Socrates to Sartre..., pp. 77-78
46
Cfr. DE TORRE, J., Christian Philosophy, p. 275
27
believed that God is not true because the mind cannot conform to things that cannot be
seen, or things that are transcendental47.
It was indeed proven that the source of truth in the intellect is its conformity with
the things from which it receives knowledge. On the other hand, the truth in things is
according to its conformity with the first cause, namely the divine intellect of God.
Thus, the assumption that alleges God as a non-existing being was considered error48.
Moreover, it is said that, Natural things measure our intellect, yet these things
are themselves measured by the divine intellect, in which we are all created things just
as all works of art find their origin in the intellect of the artist. The divine intellect,
therefore, measure and is not measured; a natural thing both measures and is
measured; but our intellect is measured and measures only artifacts, not natural
things 49
.
For this reason, a natural thing, as being placed between two intellects is called true,
insofar as it conforms to either. It is said to be true with respect to its conformity with
the divine intellect insofar as it fulfills the end to whom it was ordained by the divine
intellect. The creator, according to Saint Thomas, has endowed all his creatures with
some measure of causal efficacy and some of them with that particular form of causal
efficacy which is the exercise of reason.
Additionally, the concept of God as the primary Truth is considered immutable.
‚s the statement of Saint ‚ugustine conveys, there is nothing greater than the mind of
man, except God. Hence, the truth is greater than the mind of man so that the mind
can never judge the truth according to its own measure, but according to the truth of
things that are anchored to the One truth God50.
47
Cfr. S. Th. I, Q 16, A 5
48
Cfr. S. Th. I, Q 16, A 5
49
Cfr. Aquinas, T., The Pocket Aquinas, Bourke, V. (Ed.), Washington Square Press, New York, 1960, p.
16.
50
Cfr. S. Th. I, Q 16, A 6
28
In addition, the mind cannot judge things according to any kind of truth, but
only according to the primary truth which is God. Saint Anselm complimented by
saying that things are said to be true by their relation to the divine intellect 51. The gist of
this idea shows that things in itself are true because they have their origin to the
primary truth which is God.
On the other side, another argument speaks that God is the source of sins,
because of the truth that He is the first cause of all things and of all other beings.
However, sin is considered as privation or the absence of good and so it has no truth at
all, it is only apprehended by the intellect of men. Now, since all apprehension of the
intellect is from God. Therefore, it is true that a person commits sin, but to tell that
committing sin is from God is considered erroneous 52, for the reason that humans are
endowed with freedom, that is, the power to determine action without restraint 53.
After all these arguments and ideas, Saint Thomas wisely preserved and
developed a more firm concept of Truth. He explained, Truth is found in the intellect
when it apprehends a thing as it is, and it is found things according as they are being
conformable to an intellect. Hence, this is to the greatest degree found in God. For His
being is not only conformed to His intellect, but it is the very act of His intellect; and His
act of understanding is the measure and cause of every other being and of every other
intellect. He Himself is His own existence and act of understanding. Whence, it follows
not only that the truth is in Him, but that He is truth itself and the sovereign and first
51
Cfr. S. Th. I, Q 16, A 6
52
Cfr. S. Th. I, Q 16, A 5
53
Cfr, “Freedom”, Copyright © 2013 Dictionary.com, LLC.,
<<http://Dictionary.reference.com/browse/freedom/>>, Last consulted on, March 2, 2013.
29
truth 54
. This is to say that God Himself is the beginning and the end of all things, since
all truths are derived from the divine truth which is God.
As a conclusion, we humans have the capacity to know the truth that God exists
with the aid of our human reason. It is therefore clear that truth is true because it has
the origin from the One truth, which is God. Though our human reason cannot fully
comprehend God, the proof is clear that He is the source of everything, and that he is
not a being created by the human mind.
B. Different Concepts of truth that are relevant to Saint Thomas’ concept of truth
In order to see clearly the validity of Saint Thomas concept of truth, several
ideas about truth that are relevant to that of Saint Thomas will be discussed in this part.
The similarities of these concepts will help picture out the idea of the one primary truth.
This part will somehow connect early notions about the truth to Saint Thomas concept
of truth.
B.1. Theories on truth from the 20th Century
Much of the contemporary literature on truth takes as its starting points some
ideas which were prominent in the early part of the 20th century. There were a number
of views of truth under discussion at that time, the most significant for the
contemporary literature are the correspondence, coherence, and pragmatist theories of
truth55.
54
S. Th. I, Q 16, A 5
55
Cfr. GLANZBERG, M., "Truth", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Spring Edition, 2013, Edward
N. Zalta (Ed.), <<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2013/entries/truth/>>, Last consulted March 2,
2013
30
The first concept of truth is perhaps the most important of the neo-classical
theories for the contemporary literature - the correspondence theory. The main gist of
the correspondence theory is that what we believe or say is true if it corresponds to the
way things actually are to the facts. That is to say, the correspondence theory of truth is at
its core an ontological thesis: a belief is true if there exists an appropriate thing a fact to which
it corresponds. If there is no such thing, the belief is false56.
This theory is relevant to that of Saint Thomas because it provides the
foundation of judging truths in things by the way their essences or whatness has shown
to the knower. Hence, the idea in the mind is said to be true when it has its similarity
with the things in the world. According to the correspondence theory, what is key to
truth is a relation between propositions or the expressions of an idea and the world,
which obtains when the world contains a fact that is structurally similar to the
proposition57. In short, it relates to the idea of Saint Thomas that truth is the conformity
of the mind to objects. It gives us the familiar idea that beliefs are true when it has its
likeness to the thing believed.
Similar to the correspondence theory is the idea of realism. This concept is also
noted as relevant to Saint Thomas concept of truth for its key features speak of both the
idea that the world exists objectively, and independent of the ways humans think about
it, and the idea that the human thought and claims are all based from the world 58. From
this, we come to develop the idea that the truth is not something relative. Hence, it
provides support to Saint Thomas idea that absolute truth exists.
56
Cfr. GLANZBERG, M., Truth, <<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2013/entries/truth/>>, Last
consulted March 2, 2013.
57
58
consulted March 2, 2013
31
On the other hand, the coherence theory speaks of the truth as a whole. This
theory insists that what is true is the whole complete truth . Moreover, individual
judgments or beliefs are certainly not the complete truth. They are only true to a certain
degree, and get its content only in such manner of being part of a system of judgments.
In addition, any real judgment humans might make will only be partially true59. It
follows therefore that several truths in the mind are considered true when it is
established from the whole complete truth.
The coherence theory is somewhat in contrast with the correspondence theory,
for the reason that the coherence theory speaks far from believing that the world
provides a suitable object that will mirror one s idea. Instead, its truth is a matter of how
beliefs are related to each other60.
For that matter, the coherence theory will be linked to Saint Thomas concept of
One truth according to which all things are true. Primarily, since it speaks of the whole
complete truth and the individual judgments or beliefs as true in a certain degree, it is
comparable to the idea that all things are known to be true from its ultimate source
which is the divine truth. Hence, the concept of divine truth is likened to the whole
complete truth, where all truths in things and all truths in the intellect depend. The
focal point of stating the coherence theory in this study is to bridge it theologically
towards Saint Thomas concept of One truth, which we refer to God.
59
60
consulted March 2, 2013
32
B.2. Concept of truth from different philosophers
In the Philosophy of the Early Middle Ages, Dionysius, a first century disciple of
the Apostle St. Paul, formulated one of the concepts of truth that is relevant to that of
Saint Thomas. He established truth of existence as something that comes from God,
where he argued that the world is the object of God s providence 61. This concept of
Dionysius speaks clearly of the idea of a Supreme Being, which is the source of all
things. And from this, the idea of truths is linked to the First truth which is God.
Furthermore, he added that knowledge about this Truth about God can be
attained in two ways: the positive way and the negative way. The Positive way speaks
primarily of the perfect attributes of God discovered by studying creatures. In this way,
he enumerated things which he denotes to the divine, such as goodness, light, being, unity,
wisdom, and life. Dionysius ascribes these things to God in a very literal way. In a
manner that he described God as goodness, life, wisdom, and so on 62. On the other
hand, the negative way was considered by Dionysius more important, since he is aware
that humans irresistibly develop a concept of a God that is within human features. For
this reason, he undertook to remove from God all the attributes of creatures, for it was
obvious to him that what characterizes God was precisely different from that of finite
creatures. Hence, we consider God s nature by denying whatever of least compatible
with Him, such as drunkenness and fury63. The focal point of Dionysius idea speaks of
what God is and what He is not. It conveys now the truth that God is the source of all
being, wherein the term being is tantamount to the term good and truth. However, the
61
62
63
Cfr. STUMPF, S.E., AND FIESER J., Socrates to Sartre..., p. 133. For Dionysius, existence and goodness are
identical terms, he assumed that whatever is is good, and if something is good, it obviously must first
exist. Moreover, he said that in God, goodness and being are one, and therefore, whatever comes from
God is good.
33
absence of good is considered evil and must never be grounded to God since it connotes
something deficient or lacking.
Another noteworthy philosopher during the medieval period was Saint
‚ugustine of Hippo. ‚ugustine s philosophical reflections about the truth in God were
the product of his intense personal pursuit of wisdom and spiritual peace. He had the
experience of knowing certain truths that were eternal, and was able to compare the
experience of contemplating this truth with the experience of having pleasure and
sensations. Of these two experiences, he found that the mental activities could provide
more lasting and profound peace64. In here, Saint Augustine points out that the
attainment of absolute and eternal truths can only be found in God, and not in sensible
things that are finite.
To justify, Saint Augustine considered the technical question of how it was
possible that his finite human mind was capable of attaining knowledge beyond the
capacity of his mind. By this, he concluded that his knowledge could not have come
from finite things outside him, nor could it be produced fully by his own mind. Since
the knowledge available to him was eternal and could not come from his limited mind,
he was led to believe that immutable truth must have its source in God. What led to this
conclusion was the similarity between the characteristics of some of his knowledge and
the attributes of God, namely, that both are eternal and true. The existence of some
eternal truths meant for Saint Augustine the existence of the Eternal truth, which he
referred to God65.
Saint ‚ugustine s concept is one of the bases of Saint Thomas study and works,
especially in his concept of Truth about God. Their concepts of truth do not dwell on
64
65
34
what is sensed and perceived by the mind out from the physical world, for it will
connote that individual judgment may be true as it is perceived by the knower. As it is
stated in the Summa Theologiae, truth does not reside only in the intellect, but rather in
things. For Saint Augustine condemns the definition of truth that which is seen, since it
would follow that stones hidden in the bosom of the earth would not be true stones, as
they are not seen. He also condemns the notion that a thing is true which is as it appears
to the knower, who is willing and able to know, for hence it would follow that nothing
would be true, unless someone could know it. It seems, then, that truth resides in
things and not in the intellect 66

. This notion particularly speaks of the truth as it
primarily in things before the mind encountered the world.
From a different view, truth is a much broader notion for Anselm than for
anyone else. He speaks of truth not only in statements and opinions but also in the will,
actions, senses, and even the essences of things. In every case, he argues that truth
consists in the correctness or rectitude. Moreover, Saint ‚nselm understands the term
rectitude teleologically. It speaks that a thing is correct whenever it is or it does
whatever it ought to be. For example, statements are made for the purpose of signifying
that a thing is what it is. Hence, a statement is correct only when it signifies a thing as it
is. Saint Anselm holds for this matter a correspondence theory of truth. However, it is
somewhat an unusual correspondence theory, since he concluded not only that
statements are true when they correspond to reality, but also because corresponding to
66
Summa Th. I, Q 16, A 1. Saint Thomas agreed in some respect to the idea of Saint Augustine however
he replied to Saint Augustine’s proposition that he is speaking about the truth of things, and excludes
from the notion of this truth its relation to our intellect. For what is accidental is excluded from every
definition. (Cfr. Summa Theologiae I, Q 16, A 1, Reply to Objection 1).
35
reality is what statements are for. That is, are true when they do what they were
designed to do67.
C. Critiques, opposition and defense about Aquinas’ concept of truth
The critique on Saint Thomas ‚quinas concept of Truth began after his death
when few schools of thoughts emerged in 14th and 15th centuries. The crisis intensified
during the 16th century with the Protestant revolt when Martin Luther, a German monk,
said that human nature has been totally corrupted by original sin, and therefore human
reason is incapable of reaching the truth and has to rely on blind faith alone68. He was
convinced that the church was corrupt in its ways and had lost sight of what he saw as
several of the central truths of Christianity69. Martin Luther had disregarded the power
of reason to achieve the goal of knowing the truth about God and his plan for
humankind, he relied on faith alone which will never be directed properly, since it has
to be supported by the power of the human reason.
Bertrand Russell is also one of the few philosophers who raised another critique
against Saint Thomas. He said that Saint Thomas Aquinas' philosophy does not, like the
Platonic Socrates, set out to follow wherever the argument may lead. He accused Saint
Thomas as not engaged in an inquiry. As a result, he supposed that it is impossible for
St. Thomas to know in advance. Russell believed that before Saint Thomas began to
philosophize, he already knew the truth, and that is declared in the Catholic faith. He
added that if Saint Thomas cannot build rational arguments for some parts of the faith,
67
Cfr. WILLIAMS, T., "Saint Anselm", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2013 ed.),
Edward N. Zalta (Ed.), May 18, 2000, <<http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/anselm/#TruStaWil>> Last
consulted on March 2, 2013.
68
Cfr. DE TORRE, J., Christian Philosophy, p. 3.3
69
Cfr. N/A “Justification by faith” in Martin Luther,
< < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther#Justification_by_faith.htm>>, on Feb. 2, 2013.
36
he only needed to fall back on the revelation. This was a great insult in the part of St.
Thomas since his works are made to support mostly the Truth held by the Catholic
Faith. Russell was determined that the finding of arguments for a conclusion given in
advance is not philosophy, but special pleading. Therefore, he felt that Saint Thomas
does not deserve to be put on a level with the best philosophers either of Greece or of
modern times70. For Russell, the methodology of scholasticism used by St. Thomas is
employed for proving what is already believed to be true. Therefore, St. Thomas work
should be viewed perhaps as an artful, concise argument, but not a decisive proof71.
The philosopher David Hume also negated Saint Thomas concept of God as truth
by pointing out the premise that everything that has a cause is not a matter of fact but
rather an arbitrary act of the mind. He said that the succession of events that we
commonly associate with causes and effects is simply a habit of the mind. Moreover, he
said that humans are accustomed to think that whenever they see something
happening, there is always a necessary connection between the so-called temporal
successions of event. However, it is nothing but only an association people make in his
imagination. He implied that God is just created cause for the relations in the world
which is not real and just a by-product of the mental impressions72.
Another philosopher from Germany named Immanuel Kant also argued that the
principle of causality could only be legitimately applied to the world of sense
experience. For him, the truth presented by St. Thomas is unjustified for it was used and
applied to a world beyond sense experience. He meant that humans must recognize
Cfr. RUSSELL, B., 1967, p. 463, “A History of Western Philosophy”, Ch. 34, “St. Thomas Aquinas”, Allen &
70
Unwin, London; Simon & Schuster, New York, 1946,

<<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas#Criticism.htm>> Last consulted on Feb. 2, 2013
71
Cfr. N/A “Criticism” in Thomas Aquinas,
<<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas#Criticism.htm>>, on Feb. 2, 2013
72
Cfr. FERNANDEZ, A., PINEDA, M., AND ELOJA, D., Does God exist?, Research and Publication Office
Ateneo de Davao University, Davao City, 2005, p. 47.
37
that arguments that transcend possible experience, whether they are about God or
anything else, are entirely speculation, and fruitless, and it does not, for him prove
anything which we can be certain of73.
However, there are errors and inconsistencies in the critiques and arguments of
Russell, Hume, and Kant. They were mistaken in some aspects of their ideas in
contradiction of Saint Thomas concepts. Hence, their criticisms against Saint Thomas
Aquinas fall absurd.
Russell s criticism on Saint Thomas works is quite mistaken, simply because he
forgot that Saint Thomas purely alter some philosophy of the ancient Greek. He made
this alteration to help strengthen the Christian faith. As a result, Saint Thomas made a
creative union of ideas which until today is consistently reaffirmed by the church. It has
given a clear view about the revelation of the divine truth in the level of human
understanding.
On the other side, the criticism of David Hume is also considered mistaken.
Hume s main problem in his idea lies with his reduction of human knowledge to the
level of the senses, thus denying that man has the power of intellectual understanding.
For Hume, sense experience was the ultimate source of valid human knowledge74. The
main point in Hume s idea is his reduction of man s capability to think within what he
can only observe through his senses. Hence, he denied the fact that humans can know
the essence or whatness of a thing which exist prior to the human act of sensing. In fact,
his concept even denies the ability of man to know certain ideas which are considered
universally true.
73
Cfr. FERNANDEZ, A., PINEDA, M., AND ELOJA, D., DGE?, p. 47
74
Cfr. HORRIGAN, P.G., The Existence of God, Copyright 2003, pp. 21-22.
38
Having done this, it led Hume to remain agnostic concerning God s existence, a
natural consequence of his sensism. Criticizing Hume s radical empiricism, there are
noted things that are mentioned:
First, Hume s explanation of ideas as faint images of sense-impressions is totally
inadequate. Since both are of a sensory character, they are concrete and individualized.
Our ideas, however, are abstract and universals. There is, as we have shown, a radical
difference between sensations , images , and intellectual ideas on the other. to
deny this difference is a serious error. Second, Hume s explanation of universal idea is
totally inadequate. The process of forming universal ideas is not all the way Hume
pictures it. We acquire them by the process of abstraction, taking the objective feature
common to a number of individuals, and then generalizing the resultant idea so that it
applies to the whole class to every member of class. Third, Hume s explanation of the
origin and nature of the necessarily and universally true axioms and principles, such as
the principle of causality and the principle of non-contradiction, is totally inadequate.
Fourth, Hume s theory if accepted as true, must destroy all Scientific knowledge. The
very foundation of Science lies on the principle of non-contradiction, sufficient reason,
and causality. If these principles are valid only for our mind and to apply with
inviolable necessity to physical objects in nature, the scientist has no means of knowing
whether his conclusions are objectively valid. His knowledge is nothing but a purely
mental construction which may or may not agree with extra-mental reality75.
The above stated analysis refutes Hume s theory, because it has erroneously
denied the principles that govern the human thought. Thus, hindering humans from
attaining the truth since for him, humans can know nothing but their internal states of
consciousness. It appears that humans could never discover whether the external world
75
HORRIGAN, P.G., The Existence of God, Copyright 2003, p. 23.
39
and other minds exist at all. Driven to its logical conclusions, the theory of Hume can
only end in solipsism and skepticism76.
On the other hand, Kant s main critique against the concept of Saint Thomas
revolves around his rejection of the theory of realism. Realism is a school of thought
that claims that man can really know extra-mental things and obtain immaterial ideas
by abstraction from sense experience. It primarily believes that the mind revolves
around things in the extra-mental universe. Hence, it defines truth as the conformity of
the mind or judgment to real things77.
‚s a result, Kant s philosophical system is bombarded with numerous
contradictions and criticism for its inconsistency. It affirms the existence of the
noumenon, yet added that it was impossible to know anything about it. This idea falls
absurd because knowing that a certain thing exists is contradictory to his claim that
humans know nothing of the thing-in-itself78.
Kant rejects this concept because he believed that it is not the mind that revolves
around the thing, rather, it is the thing that revolves around the mind. According to
him, the intellect imposes its condition upon sense phenomena and not vice versa. He
concluded that instead of making the person attend to the objects, it must be the objects
that will depend on the thinking ego 79. The major point of Kant in his idea, presents the truth
as something that depends on the mind rather than in things. Hence, it could end up into
relativism, since truth is the conformity of the mind to reality, and not the other way around.
76
Cfr. HORRIGAN, P.G., The Existence of God, Copyright 2003, p. 23.
77
Cfr. HORRIGAN, P.G., The Existence of God, p. 24-25.
78
Cfr. HORRIGAN, P.G., The Existence of God, p. 27. Noumen or phenomena are terms that literally mean
“things that appear” and “things that are thought.” Platonic ideas and forms are noumena, and phenomena
are things displaying themselves to the senses. (Oxford companion to Philosophy, p. 657).
79
Cfr. HORRIGAN, P.G., The Existence of God, p. 25.
40
Kant s theory also destroys the foundation of all intellectual knowledge. It is
because judgments are supposed to reflect and represent reality, hence, they are
supposed to tell humans what things are . Truth and error reside in the judgment. In
forming judgments, humans first understand the content of the ideas and then undergo
intellectual insight into the relationship between the knower and the idea and between
the object and the idea80. The very reason why several people reject the idea of Kant is
because of his few concepts that are contrary to each other. Moreover, he mistakably
formulated the concept about acquiring knowledge since he negated the idea of
abstraction, the act by which the mind discerns what the accidental and the essential
notes, features, or aspects of an object81.
Furthermore, Kant insisted that it is impossible for man to demonstrate the
existence of God. According to him, all our experience is limited to what is in our
sensibility and that the categories of the human understanding can only operate on the
objects given to it through the forms of sensibility. However, his idea was refuted
because God is a supra sensible being. Hence, He must not be given in the mass of sense
impression, for He cannot be an object of theoretical knowledge to the human mind.
Therefore, it is impossible for Kant to apply to God, the conditions required of all
objects of experience. Since only those things that are temporal, subjected to some finite
features, and included within the order of appearances are contained within the scope
of speculative knowledge. God is eternal and not temporal, His being is infinite and
unimaginable, and He is not an appearance but a supreme intelligible reality of thing-
in-itself.
80
Cfr. HORRIGAN, P.G., The Existence of God, p. 29.
81
Cfr. BABOR, E.,Logic: The Philosophical Discipline of Correct Thinking, 3rd edition,C & E Publishing,
Inc., Quezon City, 2009, p. 20. Babor added, “The accidental features or notes of a particular object are
those which are part of the object, yet do not make the object an object. Like color, size, shape, and
location. Meanwhile, the essential notes of an object are those which are necessary for that object to
become what it is (Babor, 2009, pp. 20-21).
41
Hence, the critiques of Russell, Hume, and Kant are defective, credible it may
seem, their arguments are still considered mistaken due to some inconsistencies in their
ideas and their illogical interpretation of Saint Thomas concept.
In a nutshell, the concept of Saint Thomas on Truth had greatly defended the
Truth itself. It had been put up through the clarification Saint Thomas did on the ideas
of the ancient philosophers, and was wavered with arguments that rejects and affirms
the notion of the doctor, Saint Thomas.
It has indeed annihilated some of the erroneous ideas and criticisms of different
philosophers since the birth of different ideologies and philosophies. The truth
presented by Saint Thomas, had contributed in different areas in life, moral or
intellectual, philosophical or theological, or even in faith and reason.
Thus, the works and studies of Saint Thomas remained active in protecting the
Ultimate Truth that has been debated and discussed for so many centuries. Though, the
Angelic Doctor had already proven the Truth by reason, and it is strengthen and
deepen by faith, the defense against the attack of atheism has been watched over by the
Church through the help of Saint Thomas ‚quinas teachings and writings.
In the next chapter, I will present how Saint Thomas ‚quinas notion of Truth
answers all the problem of the modern atheism.

CHAPTER III
The Truth and Atheism
Truth is a river that is always

splitting up into arms that reunite.
Islanded between the arms, the inhabitants
argue for a lifetime as to which is the main river.
- Connolly -
T
he quest of finding the solution to the problems brought about by
the modern atheism has been worked out by several Christian
philosophers. They strive to look for means to abolish all the
harmful effects and dangers introduced by the modern atheism in today s world.
The dominating ideologies of the contemporary era have led humankind to
confusions due to the many facets of truth endorsed by various philosophers. As a
result, people s personal belief and conviction are somehow dimmed and obscured by
the invading ideas of the modern times.

44
The people s unawareness and tolerance on the damages conveyed by the
modern world, or worse than that, the postmodern world, has led to the downfall of
most principles and laws that serve as norms to be followed and obeyed by humans.
Most of the timeit compromises the moral and intellectual aspects of life.
However, inspite of the contamination of the human mind and the bewilderment
brought by modernity to every aspects of human life, the truth remains unchanged and
indisputable. This Truth which has been deeply studied and worked out by Saint
Thomas Aquinas will provide answers to the queries and problems of atheism.
Although there are several critiques that contradict and reject the works of Saint
Thomas, they usually fall absurd. ‛ecause as Etienne Gilson said, The nature and
significance of Saint Thomas work cannot be fully understood by those who approach
it as if there has been nothing before it 82

. There must be an apparent view that the
Truth has already existed before Saint Thomas formulated a concept about it.
This chapter of the study will recapitulate the discussion in the first two chapters
and connect the problems of atheism to the study of truth by Saint Thomas Aquinas.
A. The Incompatibility of Truth and Atheism
Patrick Masterson in his book entitled Atheism and Alienation, defined atheists as
those people who explored the beauty and order of the cosmos. He further described
them that despite the palpable and overwhelming evidences readily accessible to
humans, they still failed to recognize its divine source. He added that they were like
fools who live in darkness and in the shadow of death (Lk. 1:79). For in their barren and
82
Cfr. GILSON, E., The Elements of Christian Philosophy, Greenwood Press Publishers, United States of
America, 1960, p. 11.
45
idolatrous speculations about the universe, they have made nonsense out of logic and
their empty minds were darkened (Rom. 1:21)83. In his comment against Atheism, he
sturdily described these people as gradually infected by the contagious disbelief of
God s existence, especially in the fast-paced modern world, where people seem to
formulate their own truths out from their unreliable thoughts.
From the standpoint of intellectual history, modernity is usually defined as the
western cultural ethos that succeeded the decline of the medieval synthesis of Politics,
Economics, Ethics, and Faith. The emergency and growth of this modern mind in
European Civilization is a fascinating phenomenon whose further development is still
in process at the present time84. The gist of this statement conveys the massive changes
and development brought by modernity in our time. It influenced different aspects in
life which led to fluctuations in human cultures and values.
Furthermore, when modernity emerged, it brought a very special connotation to
humankind. It implied a rejection of what had been received from the immediate past 85.
One of the major stands made in the modern times is the refutation of the theistic belief
that God exists.
In their humanistic criticism of religion, one of the standards held aloft by the
atheists is the idea of Xenophanes. He stated that there never was a time, nor ever will
be, any man who knows with certainty the things about the gods. Moreover, Truth for
83
Cfr. MASTERSON, P.,Atheism and Alienation: A Study of the Philosophical Sources of Contemporary
Atheism, University of Notre Dame Press, Indiana, 1971, p. 3.
84
Cfr. MCLEAN, G.,Religion in Contemporary Thought, Alba House, New York, 1973, p. 7.
85
Cfr. DE TORRE, J.,Christian Philosophy, 3rd edition, Sinag-Tala Publisher, Manila, 1980, p. 286. De
Torre notes “there is nothing special about “being modern”: we are in fact “modern”, since we are alive
“now”, Yet man felt self-sufficient, and unwilling to acknowledge any indebtedness: he wanted to find
things out by himself rather than being taught, like the child who is too proud to ask for help.”
46
the atheists have pointed out not only that the gods cannot be observed, but also that
man s conceptions of the gods are in many respects contradictory86.
However, Saint Thomas said, Truths are self-evident which are recognized at
once, as soon as the terms in which they are expressed are known. For instance, such
truth is the assertion that God exists for by the name God , we understand something
greater than which nothing can be thought. This notion is formed in the understanding
by whoever hears and understands the name God . Hence, the term God is the
product of our idea about Him. Conversely, He cannot exist in the mind alone, for what
is in the mind and in reality is greater than that which is in the mind only. But since
nothing is greater than God, as the very meaning of the name shows, it follows that the
existence of God is a self-evident truth, being evidenced by the mere meaning of the
name 87
. For this very reason, the concept of atheism is incompatible to the notion of
truth.
In addition, ‚theists forgot that the crowning achievement of metaphysics is
the knowledge of God, to the extent that it is possible to man in the natural light of
reason to know God88. In fact, in the areas of the Catholic beliefs, Saint Thomas Aquinas
stated that the truths that the church confesses concerning God fall under two modes:
Some of these Truths about God, according to him, are beyond all the competence of
human reason, like the truth that God is Three and One. While other Truths about Him
can be attain even by the aid human reason alone, as the existence and unity of God, by
which philosophers have proved to a demonstration under the guidance of the light of
natural reason89. The pivotal point of the said proofs concerning the beliefs of the theists
86
Cfr. MCLEAN, G.,Religion..., p. 174.
87
Cfr. AQUINAS, T.,Summa Contra Gentiles, Book 1, Chapter 10, RICKABY, .J. (Trans.), The Catholic
Primer, London, 2005, p. 32. (From here on, Summa Contra Gentiles)
88
Cfr. DE TORRE, J.,Christian Philosophy, pp. 123-124
89
Cfr. AQUINAS, T.,Summa Contra Gentiles, Book 1, Chapter 3, p. 20.
47
is the two inseparable notions of faith and reason, which until now support the Truth
about God.
Atheism is also incompatible with the notion of truth for it had assumed that the
main cause of the belief about God is the human needs and wants. Marx on this matter
uses the famous expression that religion is the opium of the people . He even
accentuated that the abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of men, is a demand
for the real happiness90.
Truly, man has the natural desire to seek for total and complete happiness. This
search for absolute happiness is something that man truly yearns at the very depth of
his being as finite. Yet, nothing finite can give him absolute happiness. This does not
mean that finite goods bring no satisfaction to man. The point is that, man is
existentially aware that no finite good by itself can completely satisfy that deep and real
yearning in his heart. Some philosophers identify this insatiable yearning for the
absolute with the natural desire for God91. It is proven instead, that God exists because
man cannot reach complete happiness by embracing finite and material things, but only
through desiring spiritual union with God in the eternal life.
One more repelling idea asserted by Atheism to the truth presented by Saint
Thomas ‚quinas is the atheist s proposition that an absolute good cannot exist if there
is evil. This idea is aggravated when people consider that everything that exists comes
90
Cfr. MCLEAN, G.,Religion..., p. 90
91
Cfr. FERNANDEZ, H., PINEDA, M. AND ELOJA, D.,Does God Exist?, Research and Publication Office
Ateneo de Davao University, Davao City, 2005, pp. 183-184. St. Augustine had elaborated this idea
through his Confessions, when he acknowledged God by saying, “Thou has created us for Thyself, and
our heart knows no rest, until it may rest in thee.”
48
from God. Ambiguously, since evil is present in this world, it would seem that evil, too,
comes from God92.
But on the contrary, Saint Thomas Aquinas commends the answer of Saint
Augustine that evil is not anything positive, and that God is not the cause of evil
because evil is not a thing. Natural evil which is the suffering caused by forces of
nature, represents the absence in something that is otherwise good in itself. Similarly,
moral evil, which is the suffering caused by willful human choices also involves the
absence of something that is good. The theists fixed their stance that God only willed
that people should have freedom, whereas evil is identified as the possibility for wrong
choices that accompany a person s freedom. Thus, with freedom, people possess the
capacity to choose for or against God who is right, just, and good93.
Another dispute made by atheism that made it incompatible with Truth is their
idea about human dignity. One characteristic of modern thought is its recognition of the
dignity of man and its emphasis on the value of living a full human life. The German
philosopher Feuerbach, attacked religion for the way it brings alienation into human
life. He argues that because of religion, man loses touch with his own greatness,
becoming alien or stranger to himself94.
On the other hand, the church document Gaudium et Spes said, No man loses his
dignity when he severs himself from his Maker, in fact he can only reclaim it when,
with the help of God s grace, acknowledges, loves, and obeys Him, in whose image and
likeness he was made 95

.
92
Cfr. STUMPF, S. AND FIESER, J.,Socrates to Sartre and Beyond: A History of Philosophy, 8th edition,
McGraw-Hill, New York, 2008, p. 159.
93
Cfr. STUMPF, S. AND FIESER, J.,Socrates to Sartre..., pp. 159-160.
94
Cfr. MOGA, M.,In Search of True Religion: A philosophy of religion, St. Pauls, Makati City, 1996, p.
131.
95
HORRIGAN, P.G.,The Existence of God, 2003, p. 47.
49
Though atheists think that religion projects into God all the good qualities which
are originally owned by men, and that God is only viewed by the theists as someone
perfect, powerful, and glorious. They settled the idea that such projection resulted in
people seeing themselves as just the opposite of God, as imperfect, evil, weak, and ugly.
In short, religion was alleged to be the cause of degradation of human beings. In
addition, they put the case firm by stating that through rejecting people s religion, the
grandeur of human existence will be restored96.
But these ideas of the atheists are considered flawed by the theists. For it is
believed that to acknowledge God is in no way oppose the dignity of man, since such
dignity is totally grounded and brought to perfection in God 97. It is then reconciled that
such belief is never detrimental to the human dignity of men. And that men can achieve
true self-worth once he acknowledges God.
Lastly, the fundamental basis of today s modern atheism, the theory of
immanence is said to be unsuited to the idea of religion. In Christianity, the popes
throughout the 19th century stated that this immanentism cannot be reconciled with
religion. The various attempts to reconcile them were unmistakably rejected98. Thus, it is
in no way harmonious and reconcilable with the idea of the belief in God. In the end, it
is highly condemned by the church as mistaken and damaging to the belief in God.
Truly, atheism has gone through wide and thought provoking ideas.
Nevertheless, these ideas are considered error by the Truth presented by Saint Thomas,
as discussed lately. The fact that man can conceive the idea of God is in itself a unique
96
Cfr. MOGA, M.,In search..., pp. 131-132.
97
Cfr. HORRIGAN, P.G.,The Existence... p. 48.
98
Cfr. DE TORRE, J.,Openness to Reality: Essays on Secularism and Transcendence, Southeast Asian
Science Foundation Inc., Metro Manila, February 1995, p. 65.
50
proof that there is a God. The conception of a God actually rises from the divine faculty
of man, which we call imagination 99. Still, the problems of Atheism in the modern world
are still faced and confronted by different religions of the world.
B. Proofs on how Aquinas concept of Truth solve the Modern problems of

Atheism
The major solution St. Thomas notion of truth provides to the modern problems
of atheism resides more in the moral aspects. But let us consider and review first the
root causes of atheism, in order to provide solutions to its problems in the modern
world.
Etienne Borne, in his book Modern Atheism, said that Atheism is a permanent
possibility for man since God is not immediately evident in our senses. During our
time, man and his condition in the world provide reasons that are disordered and
conflicting concerning the affirmation and denial of God s existence 100. Thus, many
concepts about God emerge, and most of them are considered erroneous and
detrimental by religions.
The fact of atheism shows that a mental struggle is necessary to attain the
knowledge of God s existence. Nowadays, man is tempted to deduce the uselessness of
God from the autonomy of human science, and the absence or impossibility of God
from the evil man commits or suffers. But then again, the source of atheism as St.
Thomas uncovered can be seen in the contemporary mind which is more actively
pressing today, and even that in other times, but substantially the same101.
99
Cfr. FERNANDEZ, H., PINEDA, M., AND ELOJA, D.,Does God exist?, p. 183.
100
Cfr. BORNE, E.,Modern Atheism, TESTER, S.J. (trans.), Hawthorn Books Inc., Great Britain, 1961, p.
44.
101
Cfr. BORNE, E.,Modern Atheism, pp. 44-45.
51
Consequently, Atheism resulted into various intellectual and moral problems, and most
of them are gradually increasing and diffusing around the world.
The problem with many atheists is that once they reach this position of god-
denial, they think their reasoning is done, and become just as assured of their other
positions. However, answers are provided for these problems. In the intellectual aspects
for that matter, the natural knowledge of God is considered the conclusion of a
reasoning process. It is a fact, however, that without any complex demonstration, there
is a spontaneous natural knowledge of the existence of God. This can be shown by
looking at all people. In the present moment, there is no single nation without religion,
and even the most backward nation has its own religion and beliefs 102. Thus, beliefs are
undeniable, in a sense that each person has the intrinsic stance about his sets of beliefs
in life, particularly the belief that there is a God. They live together with these beliefs as
they sustain and uphold it.
Saint Thomas notion of truth also provides answers to the relativistic problems
of the atheists. One of this is the moral philosophy, in which it studies the free actions of
man in relation to the last end, or how man ought to behave in relation to his last end 103.
Through this, there are established moral laws or natural laws that govern the acts of
men, that is, in coherence with the One truth God.
The One truth, where this Natural law is anchored, provides a foundation on
which people may build moral rules to guide their choices and regulate the society, but
it does not provide a strong basis for moral behavior as a morality that is based in
religion. Thus, Douglas Wilson, an evangelical theologian, argues that while atheists
can behave morally, belief is still necessary for them in order to give a rational and
102
103
52
coherent account of why they are obligated to lead a morally responsible life. Wilson
says that atheism is unable to give an account of why one deed should be seen as good
and another as evil104. They cannot simply ignore the truth of God, since from it comes
into sight the goodness and badness of a thing or an action.
Taking it in the worldview of the atheists, atheism is composed of the notion that
humans are nothing more than matter and motion, and there is no God to establish
moral truths. Since this is true for them, atheism cannot account for morality. In their
worldview, only matter and motion exist. Hence, there is no standard for true morality.
As an example, if one group of people murders another group of people. There will be
no association with morality at all. And for them, something just happened. There will
be no moral association to things acting upon other things. This is what the atheistic
worldview posits. On the other hand, the religion s worldview can account for morality,
simply because right and wrong for them are determined by God's ever-unchanging
character. God has given humans moral truths that are to be followed105. Real moral
obligation is a reality, and we human beings are truly and objectively obligated to do
good and avoid evil106.
But as we have discussed in the previous chapters, since atheists reject the belief
of the existence of God, it would be incompatible with the moral obligation which is
taken as a proof that there is a Supernatural being who imposes this moral
104
N/A, “Criticism of Atheism”, in Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, < < http://Criticism_of_atheism_-
_Wikipedia,_the_free_encyclopedia.htm>>, Last consulted on February 13, 2013.
105
Cfr. N/A, “Atheism cannot account for morality”, in Debates, United States of America, (June 23,
2011), <<https://www.debate.org/debates/Atheism-can-not-account-for-moral-truth/1/>>, Last consulted
on February 23, 2013.
106
Cfr. FERNANDEZ, H., PINEDA, M. AND ELOJA, D.,Does God exist?, p. 183. In the book entitled “Does
God exist?” there are six enumerated arguments for moral obligation.
53
obligations107. As an outcome, people will be directed and bounded to do good and
avoid evil by having the end vision of the highest good which is God.
To be precise, the Greek philosopher Aristotle stated that a person must put
things in their right order and controls them well. On the other hand, in all things that
are to be controlled and put in order to an end, there must be a measure of control and
order that must be taken from the end in view, which we refer to God, in order that the
proper end of everything will be something good108. This will provide an answer to the
problems carried by pragmatic atheism, which connotes the godlessness of actions.
These pragmatic atheists do not measure the rightness and wrongness of their acts,
though they still believe that there is a God, yet they had totally excluded him in their
daily living. Thus, making them act and decide independently, causing them to neglect
the laws sustained by religion.
Many theists have held that through morality, God makes Himself known
intimately to men, for the voice of conscience is the voice of God. During the long
process of human evolution, man gradually came to acquire the concepts of right and
wrong, and so as with the good and evil, in order to make judgments about which
actions and states of affairs were right and wrong, or good and evil. Some of these
judgments were ones which we would recognize as true109. Thus, the godlessness of
actions by the practical atheist and relativist does not follow any norm that will serve as
their guide. The truth, therefore, offers the atheists a guiding principle that will help
them in their daily actions and decisions in life.
107
Cfr. FERNANDEZ, H., PINEDA, M. AND ELOJA, D.,Does God exist?, p. 183.
108
Cfr. AQUINAS, T.,Summa Contra Gentiles, Book 1, Chapter 1, p. 17.
SWINBURNE, R.,The Existence of God, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1979, p. 175. Swinburne noted, “For
109
my part, as will appear, I find the moral laws within considerably less good testimony to God than the
starry heavens above.”
54
The notion of St. Thomas on truth has also answered the empirical view of
modern atheism, for it shows a more vivid and explicit idea by clarifying the process
which involves the passage from knowing the world as an effect, to knowing God as the
cause of this effect. Moreover, this can be done even on that level of common sense 110.
Hence, it is unacceptable to conclude that all our knowledge must only be derived from
our senses.
In the end, the knowledge about God as the one truth is not an exclusively
intellectual challenge. It is inevitably related to life and to morality, to what is right and
wrong in human decisions and actions. That is why the inner disposition of the will and
the emotion has a great influence on man s knowledge of God111.
C. Suggested course of action – its practicability and beneficiality
The climax of this research is to provide possible procedures in order to
overcome the problems of atheism. It will provide a strong foundation that will give a
clearer view of Saint Thomas concept of God as Truth. Through this, the modern
problems of atheism will be countered and be corrected. The medieval philosophies of
some known philosophers are also encouraged to be applied as the course of action to
help resolve atheism.
To start with, Modernism as defined positively by some people, is the belief
that the new or the latest thing is always better than the old. Accordingly, these old
ideas, old thinking, old ways of doing things should be discarded in favor of new ideas,
new thinking, and new ways of doing things. Therefore, the assumption is that
110
Cfr. DE TORRE, J.,Christian Philosophy, p. 126-127
111
Cfr. DE TORRE, J.,Christian Philosophy, p. 127
55
humanity will continue to advance in knowledge as time passes 112. However, humans
cannot simply neglect history, for it is fount of what the modern times possess right
now.
As Gregory Graham noted in his blog Medieval Solutions to Modern Problems, it is
also possible that humans nowadays have forgotten important things that have been
known back then. Though it is neither possible nor desirable to go back on time, it is a
mistake to think that progress means that people must forget what came before. He
added, people should recognize that the great minds of the past still have something to
teach us, and their perspective may be just we need to help solve the problems we face
in the modern times 113

. The notion of truth by the great philosopher-theologian, Saint
Thomas Aquinas is therefore sustained until the present moment.
As a course of action, the entire universal church, genuinely recommends to
hook on and to clasp the studies and writings of the Angelic Doctor, Saint Thomas
Aquinas. In this moment where people are bombarded with conflicting schools of
thoughts arguing about the truth, it is encouraged to persistently assess things and
events through referring to Saint Thomas ‚quinas works and writings. The esteem in
which he was held during his life has not been diminished, but rather increased, in the
course of the six centuries that have elapsed since his death. For instance, the position
which he occupies in the Church is well explained by that great scholar Pope Leo XIII,
in his Encyclical letter "Aeterni Patris", recommending the study of Scholastic
philosophy. In fact, it is known that nearly all the founders and framers
112
Cfr. GRAHAM, G., “Medieval solutions to modern problems”, in Hoc Tempus, (February 22, 2013),
<<http://hoctempus.com/2013/02/22/medieval-solutions-to-modern-problems/>>, Last consulted on
February 24, 2013.
113
Cfr. GRAHAM, G., Medieval Solutions..., in Hoc Tempus.
56
of laws of religious orders commanded their societies to study and religiously adhere to
the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas114.
The twentieth century was a century that rediscovered Saint Thomas Aquinas.
The era was a time not only of various neo-Thomisms but of persons and schools whose
labor and courage offered a deeper understanding of the medieval theologian's ideas
and perspectives115. It implies that the consistency of studying the works of Saint
Thomas will help human beings, especially Christians, to view clearly the truth, and to
firmly judge things on the present times, not simply wavered by the idea of the modern
world.
According to the example of His Divine Master, Saint Thomas makes no
exception of persons. He invites to the banquet of wisdom, disciple as well as master,
both teacher and students, the active as well as the contemplative, the secular and also
the regular, poets, artists, scholars, and philosophers, even the man in the street is also
invited to lend an ear and listen to his works and teachings that are still preserved until
now by the church and the thomists. Saint Thomas doctrine possesses energies
powerful enough and pure enough to act efficaciously, not only on that consecrated
elite which is being formed in the seminaries (seminarians), but also on the whole
universe of culture116.
114
Cfr. KENNEDY, D., “St. Thomas Aquinas”, In the Catholic Encyclopedia, Robert Appleton, Company,
New York, (1912), <<http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14663b.htm>>, Last consulted on February 24,
2013.
115
Cfr. O’MEARA, T., “Jean-Pierre Torrell’s research on Thomas Aquinas”, in Highbeam Research,
Theological Studies, Inc., (2001), <<http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-80748112.html>>, Last
consulted on February 24, 2013.
116
Cfr. MARITAIN, J., “The Apostle of Modern Times”, in Saint Thomas Aquinas, Jacques Maritain Center,
University of Notre Dame, (April 1958) p. 1, <<http://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/thomas3.htm>>, Last
57
People are called to be humble enough in listening and accepting absolute truths
in order to reestablish human intelligence fittingly, and thus, with the graces of God,
bring back the ways of Truth the world in longing for 117.
The suggested practical actions to be made in the present times are to apply the
works of Saint Thomas Aquinas in our lives and continually promote his achievements
to other people. For the reason that Saint Thomas ‚quinas teachings are closer to the
revelation of God, it helps people seek out the truth easier.
The confidence the church gave to Saint Thomas Aquinas has broadly covered
the aspects of truth. For instance, during the eighteenth century where War and
personal crisis have combined to prove that there is more to the idea of the Holy, as
well as to the concept of the demonic, than modern wiseacres would like to believe,
many disillusioned intellectuals have seized upon the Summa as a means toward
securing faith without surrendering thought 118. This action is considered by the church
as accurate until today.
Another suggested course of action is to withdraw or overcome the skeptical
view of human beings. Skeptics alleged that humans cannot comprehend any truth.
Saint Augustine sought to answer the skeptics by showing that they were mistaken in
assuming that certain knowledge was impossible. When the skeptics say, for example,
that humans cannot attain certainty and that only probable knowledge is possible, they
fail to realize that probability is a step toward certainty. Thus, Saint Augustine's tactic is
to use the experience of uncertainty and doubt against the skeptics.
117
Cfr. MARITAIN, J., Apostles..., p. 1, <<http://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/thomas3.htm>>.
118
Cfr. PELIKAN, J., “The Spell of Saint Thomas - I”, in The Cresset, Valparaiso University, (2012)
58
As a result, the notion of St. Augustine proved that the problem was not whether
people can attain certainty but rather on how they can attain it. He sought to answer
this by showing that human reason does indeed have certainty about various things.
For instance, through our human reason we can be certain that a thing cannot be both be
and not be at the same time Principle of noncontradiction119. Through this, people will
discover the absolute truth and uphold it firmly. Moreover, it will uplift the ability of
men to reason out and conduct a good judgment in his whole life experiences.
It is also worthwhile to know what we are and what we live for as human beings.
The second suggested course of action is to know the roles and functions of human
beings in the world. As Aristotle said that humans seek happiness, yet it is only
achieved when people fulfill their natural functions through a well-balanced life.
Furthermore, St. Augustine added that it is not by accident that humans seek happiness
in life, but rather it is a consequence of the human incompleteness and finitude. In his
religious and philosophical language, he said that the heart remains restless until it
finds rest in God. It is not an accident that humans find happiness in God, since they
were made by God only to find happiness in Him120.
Since the atheists are obscured by their empirical thought, which led them to
reject the truth of God s existence. The third suggested action is to develop firm faith as
it is accompanied by reason. In this connection, St. Anselm said that he was not trying
to discover the truth about God through reason but rather, he wanted to employ reason
in order to understand what he believed121.
119
Cfr. STUMPF, S. AND FIESER, J.,Socrates to Sartre..., p. 116
120
Cfr. STUMPF, S. AND FIESER, J.,Socrates to Sartre..., pp. 123-124
121
Cfr. STUMPF, S. AND FIESER, J.,Socrates to Sartre..., p. 139. St. Anselm’s explanation was faith seeking
understanding, he said “I do not seek to understand in order that I may believe, but I believe in order that I
may understand.”
59
Lastly, these courses of actions will help both believers and non-believers in
acting upon the modern problems of atheism which will bring benefits to both sides.
To recapitulate, the whole chapter gives us a glimpse on how the concept of Saint
Thomas on truth provides solutions to the modern problems of atheism. This chapter
also realistically confirms the incompatibility of the premises presented by atheism and
the concept of truth presented by St. Thomas Aquinas. In addition, proofs that the
concept of God as truth will answer the moral and intellectual problems of atheism was
also conferred in order to apparently view the solution it might suggest to the modern
problems of atheism. It has also given us the course of action to allow us apply the
outcome of our study in the real life situation.
Lastly, in the field of Christianity, the study and reliance on Saint Thomas
‚quinas concept of truth is one to be considered in order to preserve religion and
beliefs against the intense critiques and arguments uttered by atheism.

CONCLUSION
As we can see, the gist of the research has presented the viewpoints of both
concept of truth and concept of atheism. We have pondered the different arguments
and contradicting thoughts between the two concepts. This study was vividly designed
to determine the true nature of atheism and its various effects in the modern world,
particularly its problems and its causes, and how it was thwarted by Saint Thomas
‚quinas notion of truth, by demonstrating evidences of its incompatibility.
As we have gone along with our discourse in the study, atheism was well
defined as the disbelief in God or a particular deity, which holds that God does not
exists. Its philosophical viewpoint is emphasized through presenting some ideas of the
several well-known philosopher-atheists who made great influences to the spreading
out of atheism. The research has also stated the major causes of the emergence of
atheism, both in natural and in supernatural aspects. Moreover, it was stressed out
through enumerating the chief problems it introduced in the modern world.
To bring into clearer understanding about the truth, we have seen that Saint
Thomas concept of truth speaks of the conformity of the mind to reality, where a thing
is said to be true once it possesses the nature proper to itself. Hence, its being is the
cause of truth in the intellect. Moreover, Saint Thomas expanded his notion by
proceeding to an idea of a Being who is considered the cause of all other beings.
Therefore, it follows that this Being is the One Primary Truth according to which all
other things are considered true this he identified as God.

62
The climax of this research has gained us knowledge of the incompatibility of
atheism and truth. Nonetheless, one of the more significant findings that emerged from
the study is the capacity of truth in preventing the problems brought about by atheism,
especially in the moral and intellectual aspects in life. It has given us proofs that the
idea of God as Truth and the fount of all other truths will lead us to a correct way of
judging things according to the divine intellect and will provide us guiding principles
and laws which will govern our living. Thus, it has explained the central importance of
the concept of truth in dealing with the modern problems of atheism.
To complete the whole research, some evidences from the study suggested some
courses of action to be acted upon in order to cease to increasing threat cause by
modern atheism. Thus, the results of this research support the idea of preserving and
using the concept of Saint Thomas Aquinas on Truth in order for it to prevail and be
recognized by everyone, especially the nonbelievers.
Indeed, this study shows the relevance of the notion of Saint Thomas Aquinas on
truth by giving possible solutions in today s problems. It is also very timely, since
religions, particularly the Roman Catholics are encouraged to evangelize and promote
the truth all around the world. The research has allowed us to gain knowledge on how
to counter the arguments and opinions of the nonbelievers against religions. Hence, this
research has given us few ways and methods in defending theistic beliefs. Though it is
impossible to FULLY eradicate the fact that the occurrence of atheism is unstoppable. At
very least, Saint Thomas concept of truth has provided us POSSIBLE solutions and
answers that will help solve the modern problems brought by atheism.
In this study, the most important limitation lies in the fact that only the
viewpoint of Christianity is emphasized when it comes to responding to the arguments

63
and critiques of atheism, including those problems in the modern times, since the
research is dealing primarily on the concept of the angelic doctor, Saint Thomas
Aquinas. However, a future study investigating the concept of truth by some other
religions, perhaps the Islam or Judaism, in responding to the modern problem brought
by atheism would be very interesting. It will indeed govern us in preserving the belief
of a God in all religions through looking at the different angles that will help counteract
the urgings of atheism.
To sum up, though it was proven that Saint Thomas concept of truth can
provide answers to the perennial problems embedded by atheism in the modern world,
still, reality cannot fully resist the idea of atheism.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary Sources
AQUINAS, T., On Truth: Summa TheologiaeI, Q 16
AQUINAS, T., On Truth: Summa Contra Gentile Book 1, Rickaby, J., (ed.), the Catholic
Primer, London, 2005.
Secondary Sources
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States of America, 1960.
GREELEY, A., What Modern Catholic believes about God, Thomas More Press, Chicago,
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HORRIGAN, P.G., The Existence of God, Copyright 2003.
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MASTERSON, P., Atheism and Alienation: A Study of Philosophical Sources of Contemporary
Atheism, University of Notre Dame Press, Indiana, 1971.

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MCLEAN, G., Religion in Contemporary Thought, Society of St. Paul, Staten Island, 1973.
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1996.
STUMPF, S., and FIESER, J., Socrates to Sartre and Beyond, 8th edition, McGraw-Hill, New
York, 2008.
SWINBURNE, R., The Existence of God, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1979.
SWINBURNE, R., The Coherence of Theism, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1977.
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2013), <<http://hoctempus.com/2013/02/22/medieval-solutions-to-modern-
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PHILOSOPHY On Truth and Atheism

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SAINT FRANCIS XAVIER COLLEGE SEMINARY

Seminary Road, Catalunan Grande, Davao City

PERRY NEIL GELLICA-PATAYON

Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Concept of Truth and the

FR. RUSSELL A. BANTILES, PH. D.

Davao City 2013

The World of Atheism ............................................................................................................................. 5

A. Definition and Historical background ....................................................................................... 7

A.1. Negative Meaning of Atheism ............................................................................................ 7

A.2. Positive Meaning of Atheism .............................................................................................. 8

A.3. Origin and Historical Background of Atheism ................................................................. 9

B. Atheism vs. Theism .................................................................................................................... 13

C. Forms of Atheism and its problems in the Modern World ................................................... 15

‚quinas Concept of Truth ................................................................................................................... 19

A. Saint Thomas ‚quinas concept of truth it s foundation and formation .......................... 20

A.1. Theories on truth from the 20th Century .......................................................................... 29

A.2. Concept of truth from different philosophers ................................................................ 32

C. Critiques, opposition and defense about ‚quinas concept of truth .................................... 35

CHAPTER III ......................................................................................................................................... 43

The Truth and Atheism ......................................................................................................................... 43

A. The Incompatibility of Truth and Atheism ............................................................................. 44

C. Suggested course of action its practicability and beneficiality........................................... 54

S. Th. Summa Theologiae

search and inquiry made by an individual person the TRUTH.

After numerous searches, some philosophers have discovered and established

only be one truth.

Truth, as defined by Gottfried Leibniz , cannot be found except in one

single source. He assumed this statement because of the interconnection of all

other truths that are discovered.

Saint Thomas Aquinas.

contradicting ideas. Concerning both assertions of Saint Thomas and of the

nonbelievers, one is urged to know and comprehend the underlying relationship of

in the modern period, particularly the modern problems brought by atheism.

seen as the paradigm that responds to the modern problems of atheism. As a

philosopher-theologian, he modified, affirmed, and used some philosophies of several

of the church, specifically Saint Anselm and Saint Augustine.

are true (S. Th. Q 16, A 6).

problems and conflicts it brought in the modern world.

action to address the problems presented in the study.

Contemporary Thought by G. Mclean, are few of books cited as sources to help us

understand the nature, causes, and aims of atheism.

In addition to that, books under the category Philosophy of Religion namely

contemporary articles are quoted from the net.

coherently in order to see clearly the nature of Atheism.

The World of Atheism

It amazes me to find an intelligent

who he really is and what kind of life he is living. Man, throughout

and believes as true.

affirmation of God is indisputably one of the most noteworthy of human achievements.

It is because of its various historical expressions that speak profoundly of man s

make sense both his aspirations and his limitations1.

can freely reject or accept a certain belief anytime he wanted.

In this chapter, a clear view of atheism will be presented for further

brought to human life.

A. Definition and Historical background

of theism which we refer to as a belief in a deity.

Atheism is an undeniable fact of our experiences. Man possesses the power,

the other way around.