On St. Thomas Aquinas’ account, belief is not simply a sentiment. Rather, it involves coming into contact with a truth and having the truth come into our minds, even though we have not directly seen or verified the proof of the statement. This is quite common. Students rightly believe what scientists tell them about the experiments that have generated contemporary scientific conclusions. It would be unreasonable for a chemistry student to verify every experiment in his chemistry textbook before accepting them.
24 May 2022
Opinion, Doubt, Knowledge, and Belief
Lesson Seventeen in Introduction to Thomistic Philosophy, with Fr Dominic Legge, OP, JD, STL, STD, Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology and Director of the Thomistic Institute.
On St. Thomas Aquinas’ account, belief is not simply a sentiment. Rather, it involves coming into contact with a truth and having the truth come into our minds, even though we have not directly seen or verified the proof of the statement. This is quite common. Students rightly believe what scientists tell them about the experiments that have generated contemporary scientific conclusions. It would be unreasonable for a chemistry student to verify every experiment in his chemistry textbook before accepting them.
On St. Thomas Aquinas’ account, belief is not simply a sentiment. Rather, it involves coming into contact with a truth and having the truth come into our minds, even though we have not directly seen or verified the proof of the statement. This is quite common. Students rightly believe what scientists tell them about the experiments that have generated contemporary scientific conclusions. It would be unreasonable for a chemistry student to verify every experiment in his chemistry textbook before accepting them.
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