PROPOSITION LXXXV.

In every true Judgment there is a twofold Truth, Ontological and Conceptual.

After the exposition of the preceding Thesis, the present will require only a brief declaration. A Judgment is an intellectual act and, as such, is a real entity. Therefore, it, like every other Being, must be transcendentally true. That it is a real entity, is so obvious as hardly to require proof. For every psychological act is something real; and something real, added to the faculty which elicits it, that did not exist before. But it will be of advantage once more to refer to the nature of this act. As it is an energy of the intellectual faculty, it is essentially representative; as are all the other acts of that faculty. As such, it is conformed to the Divine, and conformable to the finite, intellect; because it has a natural aptitude for generating in whatsoever mind a true estimate of itself. So far, it differs in nothing from the act of simple Apprehension; whose Conceptual, is, consequently, identified with its Ontological, Truth. The same may be said proportionably of sensile perception, in so far as it is essentially representative. Both of these statements have been already proved in the twenty-seventh Proposition. Such Truth, as can be plainly seen, is inalienable from a Judgment; because it is in reality the very entity of its Being. But into its Essence does not enter the conformity of the judicial act with the intended object. The Judgment is essentially representative; but it is not essentially a representation conformed to the object represented. And in this it differs from simple Apprehension and sensile perception; since the two latter must in their nature be conformable to their object, because the object to be represented must in their case necessarily be the object de facto represented. Now, when the judicial act of the mind is conformable with the object which it is intended to represent, -- in other words, when the Judgment is true; then, besides its Ontological, it exhibits likewise Conceptual, Truth, which is formal and peculiar to itself. But this latter is evidently not essential to the act; otherwise it would be impossible that there should be a false Judgment. Here, again, the Angelic Doctor shall be heard in confirmation. 'Things pertaining to the intellect,' he remarks, 'so far as the question of Truth is concerned, may be regarded in two ways; first, in that they are certain definite entities. Thus considered, Truth is predicated of them in like manner as of other entities. As, therefore, an entity is said to be true because, by retaining its nature, it answers to that which has been assigned it in the Mind of God; so, an enunciation is said to be true, because it retains the nature allotted to it in the Mind of God, and cannot be separated from it, for as long as the enunciation itself abides. Secondly,' (it may be considered) 'in relation to the objects apprehended. Thus understood, an enunciation is said to be true, when it is in equation with the object.'^{1} And again: 'A Proposition has Truth, not only as other entities are said to have Truth, in that they fulfil the ordination of the Divine Intelligence in their regard; but it is said to have Truth in a certain special way, in that it symbolizes the Truth of the intellect, which consists in a conformity between the intellect and its object.'^{2}

{1} Quae ad intellectum pertinent, secundum quod ad rationem veritatis spectant, possunt dupliciter considerari. Uno modo, secundum quod sunt res quaedam. Et sic eodem modo dicitur de eis veritas, sicut de aliis rebus; ut, sicut res dicitur Vera, quia implet hoc quod accepit in mente divina retinendo naturam suam; ita enuntiatio vera dicatur retinendo naturam suam quae est ei dispensata in mente divina; nec potest ab ea removeri, enuntiatione ipsa manente. Alio modo secundum quod comparantur ad res intellectas; et sic dicitur enuntiatio vera quando adaequatur rei. De Verit. Q. I, a. 6, ad 2m.

{2} 'Propositio non solum habet veritatem, sicut res aliae veritatem habere dicuntur, in quantum implent id quod de eis est ordinatum ab intellectu divino; sed dicitur habere veritatem quodam speciali modo, in quantum significat veritatem intellectus, quae quidem consistit in conformitate intellectus et rei.' 1ae xvi, 8, ad 3m.