Ontology, or the Theory of BeingCoffey, P. (Peter)
Philosophy
Ontology, or the Theory of Being
Coffey, P. (Peter)
Ontology
Bearing in mind that reality derives its intelligibility from its
essential conformity with the Divine Mind, and that the human mind
derives _its_ truth from the reality, we can understand how it has
been said of truth in general that it is first in the Uncreated
Intellect, then in things, then in created intellects; that the
primary source and measure of all truth is the Divine Intellect
Itself Unmeasured, “mensurans, non mensuratus”; that created
reality is measured by, or conformed with, the Divine Intellect,
and is in turn the measure of the human intellect, conforming the
latter with itself, “mensurans et mensurata”; and that, finally,
the human intellect, measured by created reality and the Divine
Mind, is itself the measure of no natural things but only of the
products of human art, “intellectus noster ... non mensurans
quidem res naturales, sed artificiales tantum”.(167)
Is truth _one_, then, or is it _manifold_? Logical truth is
manifold—multiplied by the number of created intelligences, and by
the number of distinct cognitions in each. The primary ontological
truth which consists in the conformity of all reality with the
Divine Intellect is one: there is no real plurality of archetype
ideas in the Divine Mind; they are manifold only to our imperfect
human mode of thinking. The secondary ontological truth which
consists in the conformity of things with the abstract concepts of
created intelligences is conditioned by, and multiplied with, the
manifoldness of the latter.(168)
Again to the question: Is truth _eternal_ or _temporal_?—we reply
in a similar way that the truth of the Divine comprehension of
reality, actual and possible, is eternal, but that no other truth
is eternal. There is no eternal truth outside of God. Created
things are not eternal; and truth is consecutive on reality: where
there is no reality there is no ontological truth: the conformity
of things with human conceptions and the logical truth of the
latter are both alike temporal.(169)
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