19. Truth: Easy and Difficult for Man

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Aristotle’s Paradoxical Question #

• Aristotle rejects asking “Can man know truth?” as already obvious
• Instead asks: Is knowing truth easy or difficult for man?
• Answer: In one way difficult, in another way easy
• This avoids both naive optimism and radical skepticism

Three Ways Truth is Easy for Man #

1. Universal Participation in Truth

• No one can live without encountering some truth
• Example: A hamburger cook must see truths about their work (meat shrinks when cooked)
• Even mundane occupations reveal truths
• This is “who misses the door?"—everyone sees the door (beginning), even if not what lies beyond

2. Cumulative Progress Through Many Contributors

• “Many hands make light work”—individual contributions combine into significant knowledge
• Arts and sciences develop through accumulated discoveries of many people
• Example: Cookbooks compile recipes from multiple family members
• One person discovers one theorem; one hundred people discover one hundred theorems

3. Universal Knowledge of Foundational Truths

• Some truths are so obvious everyone grasps them (e.g., the whole is greater than the part)
• These foundational truths serve as the cornerstone of all human knowledge
• They form the foundation upon which particular sciences and arts are built
• Distinction from (1): (1) emphasizes truths specific to one’s occupation; (3) emphasizes universal first principles

The Difficulty of Truth: Its Cause #

Two Possible Sources of Difficulty:

• In the things themselves: Some things are hard to know because they are hardly actual (e.g., matter, motion in natural philosophy)
• In us: Some things are hard to know because our minds are weak (e.g., divine things, first causes)

The Bat Analogy (Aristotle)

• Just as a bat’s eyes are too weak for daylight (though daylight makes things more visible), our minds are too weak for divine things
• Things are more visible in daylight, but the bat’s vision is defective
• Similarly: divine things are most illuminating, but obscure to us due to weakness of our understanding
• Contrast with Plato’s cave: Aristotle’s analogy suggests the weakness is innate

Principle: Determining the Cause of Difficulty

• If we find something easy to understand, and another person finds it difficult:
  • If that person is more reasonable than us (like a saint), the difficulty is in us (we are less reasonable)
  • If that person is less reasonable than us (like someone acting irrationally), the difficulty is in them (they lack reason)
• Example: The saint is more understandable than we are; our difficulty understanding the saint is in us, not the saint
• Example: Hitler’s irrationality is hard to understand; the difficulty is in him (his lack of reason), not in us

Application to Truth-Seeking

• Most difficult things to know: God, divine things, first causes—these are most illuminating but most obscure to us
• Therefore, the chief difficulty in knowing truth is in us, not in the things
• Caveat: In some sciences like natural philosophy, the difficulty is more in the things (motion, time, matter are hard to understand)

Hierarchy of Knowledge Based on Natural Difficulty #

• Easiest: Geometry (our reasoning is proportioned to it)
• Middle: Natural philosophy (things fall below us; difficulty is somewhat in the things)
• Most difficult: Wisdom/Divine things (above us; difficulty primarily in us)

Key Arguments #

The Structure of Man’s Knowledge of Truth #

• Foundation: Universal truths everyone grasps (whole > part)
• Layer 2: Truths particular to one’s work/occupation
• Layer 3: Accumulated knowledge of many individuals (arts and sciences)
• These layers build progressively from universal foundation to comprehensive sciences

Why Difficulty is Chiefly in Us, Not Things #

• What is most actual is most knowable in itself
• God is pure act → most knowable in itself
• But God is most difficult for us to know
• Therefore: difficulty is chiefly in us (our weakness), not in the thing (which is infinitely illuminating)

Dependence on Others #

• From those sharing our positions: We learn truths directly
• From those we refute: We exercise our intellectual habits and sharpen our thinking
• Even disagreement contributes to the development of truth
• Example: Augustine developed theology by refuting heresies

Important Definitions #

Truth: The conformity of mind with reality; what Aristotle is investigating as to its ease or difficulty for man

The Door (τὸ θύρα): The beginning or introduction to truth that everyone sees; foundational truths

Examples & Illustrations #

Universal Participation in Truth #

• Hamburger cook sees that meat shrinks when cooked
• Horse groomer sees truths about horses through their work
• These occupations inevitably reveal truths, however small

Cumulative Knowledge Through Many #

• Cookbooks compile family recipes from grandmothers, aunts, and mothers
• Each person contributes one recipe; collectively, a comprehensive cookbook
• Each person does one thing well; collectively, excellence in many things
• Geometry: one person discovers one theorem; one hundred people collectively discover one hundred theorems

Understanding Others and Difficulty #

• Easy to understand: People at our level of reasonableness
• Difficult to understand (difficulty in us): Saints who are more reasonable than we are
• Difficult to understand (difficulty in them): Irrational people like Hitler; their actions lack reason, so they are hard to understand
• Academic example: Historians devoted to obscure periods (Restoration England); difficult to understand their motivation

The Musician Analogy #

• Timotheus (favorite musician of Alexander the Great): Required predecessors like Phrynis to exist
• Mozart: Natural genius, yet depended heavily on predecessors
  • Learned from J.C. Bach (Catholic son of J.S. Bach)
  • Influenced by Haydn’s Russian quartets
  • Studied Bach, Handel, and other masters
  • Mozart’s own words: “There is not a master in the art of music before me because I have studied all of them”
• Haydn: When he heard Mozart’s quartets, proclaimed Mozart the greatest composer of all time
  • Yet Mozart dedicated these quartets (now called the Haydn Quartets) to Haydn as his teacher
• Point: Even the greatest genius depends on predecessors

Questions Addressed #

Q: Why does Aristotle ask “Is truth easy or difficult?” rather than “Can man know truth?” A: Because “Can man know truth?” is already obvious—to ask it would be to think we don’t know what we already know. The real philosophical question is whether the acquisition of truth is easy or difficult.

Q: In what senses is truth easy for man? A: (1) Everyone encounters some truth through their work, however small; (2) Collectively, many people accumulate large amounts of truth through their efforts; (3) Some truths are so obvious everyone grasps them, providing the foundation for all knowledge.

Q: Where does the difficulty of knowing truth primarily lie? A: Primarily in us (our weak minds), not in the things themselves. The most illuminating realities (divine things, first causes) are most obscure to us, like sunlight is to a bat’s eyes.

Q: How can disagreement contribute to the pursuit of truth? A: By refuting false or superficial positions, we exercise our intellectual habits and sharpen our thinking. Even those who speak superficially contribute something by giving us the opportunity to develop our understanding through refutation.

Q: Why does even Mozart, a natural genius, depend on other musicians? A: Because even natural gifts must be developed and refined through knowledge of predecessors’ work. Mozart consciously studied previous masters and was influenced by their innovations (e.g., Haydn’s quartets).