Programme
Fabrizio Amerini
University of Parma
Thomas Aquinas on the Omnitemporal Truth of Enuntiabilia
In his Quaestiones de veritate, q. 1, Thomas Aquinas discusses the possibility that something other than God be eternal. The opponent defends this possibility in the case of 'enuntiabilia', through a version of the 'consequentia mirabilis'. The truth of 'enuntiabilia' cannot be destroyed, because if truth were destroyed, it would be true that truth has been destroyed, and so truth would be reaffirmed. So truth is necessary. The opponent tries to show that this holds both in the case of essential 'enuntiabilia' (such as 'Socrates is a man') and in that of contingent 'enuntiabilia' (such as 'Socrates runs'). Her conclusion is that every truth is eternal. Aquinas gives arguments for rejecting this conclusion. The opponent’s position depends on a misunderstanding of what happens when we form a true proposition. Aquinas tries to prove that only one truth is eternal. We shall discuss Aquinas’s arguments and their implications on his account of time and modality.