77. Truth as Unchangeable and Falsity in Things

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Truth as Unchangeable (Question 16, Article 8) #

Divine vs. Created Truth

• Truth in God’s understanding is absolutely unchangeable because God’s understanding cannot change
• Truth in human understanding is changeable insofar as the mind shifts from truth to falsity
• The truth of statements (e.g., “Socrates sits”) remains unchanged in what it signifies, even when the thing signified changes

Convertibility of Being and Truth

• Being and truth are convertible terms—what remains after all change is unchangeable, just as being itself cannot be generated or corrupted per se
• Being is corrupted or generated only per accidens (accidentally), and truth similarly changes not in itself but accidentally through change in created things

Convertibility Explained #

Definition: Two terms are convertible when they can be reversed while maintaining truth. If A is B, then B must be A.

• Convertible: Man and rational animal; square and equilateral right-angled quadrilateral
• Not convertible: Man and animal (not every animal is a man); white and man (not all white things are men)
• Property vs. Definition: A definition must be convertible with the thing defined; a property is convertible but does not express the essence

Universal Convertible Terms (per Aristotle) The most universal words/thoughts that are convertible with being itself:

• Being (ens)
• Thing (res) or something
• One (unum) — understood as undivided and distinct from others
• True (verum)
• Good (bonum)

Good is convertible with being because bad/evil is a kind of non-being, not a positive reality opposed to being.

Falsity in Things (Question 17, Article 1) #

Falsity Not Simply in Things

• Falsity is not found in things as such, but only in relation to understanding
• Things cannot deceive in themselves; they only show their own form
• Each thing, insofar as it exists in the divine mind (as God knows it), is true without falsity

Falsity by Relation to Understanding

• Artificial things (made by human art): Called false simply and as such when they fall short of the form of the art (e.g., a false wine is one that fails to meet the requirements of what wine should be)
• Natural things: Called false only in relation to human understanding, not to divine understanding—they can give occasion for false opinions

Exception: The Will and Sin

• In voluntary agents, it is possible to deviate from divine ordering through the power of choice
• Sins themselves are called falsities and lies in Scripture because they deviate from the order of divine understanding
• The “truth of life” refers to virtuous operation under the divine order; sin is opposed to this truth

Falsity by Signification vs. Causation #

By Signification: Things presented as being what they are not through false speech or false understanding

• Example: Saying the diameter is falsely commensurable with the side
• The thing itself becomes “false” through being signified falsely

By Causation: Things apt to produce false opinions about themselves

• Example: False teeth appear to be real teeth but are not
• Example: Fool’s gold appears to be gold but is not
• Such things deceive because we naturally judge things by their outward appearance

Key Arguments #

That Truth Is Unchangeable #

1. From Augustine: Truth is not equal to the mind because if it were, it would be changeable as the mind is changeable. Therefore, truth must be unchangeable.

2. From Permanence: What remains after all change is unchangeable. Truth remains constant (it is always true to say something either is or is not). Therefore, truth is unchangeable.

3. From Anselm’s Definition: Truth is rightness (rectitudo) insofar as something fulfills what was decreed about it in the divine mind. The statement “Socrates sits” is ordained in the divine mind to signify Socrates sitting, and it preserves this signification whether Socrates sits or not. Therefore, the truth of the statement does not change.

4. From Causality: The same thing (Socrates’s sitting) is the cause of the truth in three statements: “Socrates sat,” “Socrates sits,” and “Socrates will sit.” Where there is the same cause, there is the same effect. Therefore, these have the same unchangeable truth.

That Falsity Is in Things #

1. From Augustine: Everything is a true body and a false unity because it imitates unity yet is not unity. Just as each thing imitates divine goodness, each thing also has falsity.

2. From Likeness: Things that have a likeness to other things they are not are called false (e.g., false teeth imitate real teeth).

Important Definitions #

Convertibility (Convertibilia) #

Terms or concepts that are mutually reversible: A is B if and only if B is A. Essential for understanding how being and truth relate.

Falsity #

• Primary sense: The non-being of something a thing should have or is capable of having, in a subject capable of possessing it
• In things: Exists only by relation to understanding—either divine (no falsity) or human (things can be false by occasion)
• In statements: A statement is false when it signifies something not true in the mind

False Things (Res Falsae) #

Things that deceive or present themselves as what they are not, either by signification or by causation.

Privation (Privatio) vs. Negation (Negatio) #

• Negation: Simple absence (a rock does not see)
• Privation: Absence of something a subject is capable of having (blindness in an animal)
• Falsity is closer to privation than negation

Examples & Illustrations #

Truth and Unchangeability #

• Socrates Sitting: The statement “Socrates sits” is true when he sits, false when he doesn’t. Yet the statement itself always signifies what it is ordained to signify in the divine mind, so its truth as a signification remains unchanged.
• Past, Present, Future Statements: “Socrates sat,” “Socrates sits,” and “Socrates will sit” have the same truth in their cause (Socrates’s sitting action) but this cause exists in different modes at different times, so the truth is signified diversely through temporal markers.

Falsity in Things #

• False Teeth: Called false because they appear to be real teeth but are not. They deceive through outward appearance.
• Fool’s Gold: Appears to be gold but is not. It has the color and appearance of gold but lacks its essential properties.
• False Tragedian: An actor playing Hector is a false Hector because he imitates Hector but is not Hector.
• Bookmark Without Sight: A bookmark does not have blindness even though it lacks sight, because blindness requires a subject capable of sight by nature. The bookmark is not the kind of thing that should have sight.

Questions Addressed #

Is Truth Unchangeable? #

Resolution:

• Divine truth is absolutely unchangeable because God’s understanding cannot change
• Created truth in human minds is changeable insofar as human understanding shifts from truth to falsity
• The truth of statements themselves (what they signify) remains unchanged in signification even when the things they signify change
• Being and truth are convertible; therefore, just as being cannot be generated or corrupted per se but only per accidens, so truth changes not in itself but accidentally

Is Falsity Found in Things? #

Resolution:

• Falsity is not found in things as such or in comparison to divine understanding
• Falsity in natural things is found only in relation to human understanding—either by signification (when things are presented as being what they are not) or by causation (when things are apt to produce false opinions)
• Artificial things can be called false simply when they fail to fulfill the form of the art
• Sins are exceptions: they are truly falsities because they deviate from divine ordering through the will’s choice