Certainty Part 2 - Contents

{Rosmini Pelican}

	Certainty

	Part Two - Contents

	APPLICATION OF THE CRITERION TO DEMONSTRATE THE TRUTH OF PURE KNOWLEDGE

CHAPTER 1

The intuition of being, the source of all certainty,is shown to be justified per se

Article 1	Sceptical objections to the intuition of being
Article 2	The source of the objections
Article 3	The first doubt: `Could not the thought of existence in general itself be an illusion?'
§ 1.	Reply
§ 2.	The sceptic continues to press his poin
§ 3.	Corollaries of this teaching
Article 4	The second sceptical doubt: `How can we perceive something different from ourselves?'
§ 1.	Reply
§ 2.	Continuation. Further clarification of the notion of object
§ 3.	Important corollaries
Article 5	The third sceptical doubt: `Perhaps the spirit communicates its own forms to what it sees, altering and transforming things from what they are?'
§ 1.	Reply
§ 2.	Corollaries
Article 6	The confutation of the sceptics is re-affirmed
Article 7	The argument developed so far is contained in the teaching of Christian tradition

CHAPTER 2

Truth, or the idea of being, as the means of knowing all other things

Article 1	The connection between what has been said and what follows
Article 2	Different uses of the word `truth'
§ 1.	The most general meaning of `truth'
§ 2.	The distinction between truth and true things
§ 3.	Meanings of the expression `truth of things'
§ 4.	Truth properly speaking means an idea
§ 5.	The meaning of the word `truth' when we say that there are many truths
§ 6.	The meaning of truth when used in the singular and absolutely
Article 3	Extracts from the author of the Itinerary and from St. Thomas to show that the idea of being is truth
Article 4	Another demonstration that the idea of being is truth
§ 1.	Different ways of speaking give rise to many kinds of scepticism
§ 2.	Apparent forms of scepticism
§ 3.	Suitably expressed, scepticism can have only one form
§ 4.	What is required for the scepticism of doubt to be coherent
§ 5.	Scepticism is the impossibility of thought
§ 6.	The idea of being, and the truth according to which we judge things, are the same


CHAPTER 3	The possible application of the idea of being

Article 1	The application of the idea of being generates the first four principles of reasoning
Article 2	The general principle of the application of the idea of being considered in its objective value relative to things outside the mind


CHAPTER 4	Persuasion relative to the idea of being or truth, and to the principles of reasoning

Article 1	Every human being has a necessary persuasion about truth and about the first principles of reasoning
Article 2	The first principles of reasoning are also called common conceptions
Article 3	The nature of common sense
Article 4	An objection against the universal persuasion of first principles
Article 5	Reply: the distinction between direct and reflective knowledge
Article 6	The danger of believing those who assert that they are not Persuaded of first principles
Article 7	The first means for rectifying the reflective knowledge of those Who deny first principles is to show that they are in ontradictionWith their own direct knowledge
Article 8	The second means for rectifying the reflective knowledge of those who deny first principles, or fail to reason correctly about the most obvious things, is the authority of others, which could therefore be called a criterion of reflective knowledge

Return to Main Contents