Elementy semantyczne teorii prawdy u św. Tomasza z Akwinu

Abstract

The Thomas Aquinas theory of the truth can be interpreted in the light of the contemporary semiotics. Such an approach needs an assumption of the existence of the parallel between his concept of the truth, understanded as a function of the mind, and a modem logical way of describing this notion, focussed on the linguistic characteristics. To develop this idea we need to assume an isomorfic interdependence between process of cognition and language processes. There are three functions of the mind corresponded to the parallel levels of the language: (1) creating a notion – creating a name; (2) a­n operation on the notions – building the sentences; (3) confirming the effectiveness of such an operation – semantical truth. The other parallel deals with putting together the Aquinas concept of the truth with Tarski’s semantical approach: (1) a possibility of the cognition ≡ an ability to create the species intelligibiles and to operate on them ≡ an existence of the sentential function; (2) a fact of the cognition ≡ a fulfilment of the ability to create the species intelligibiles and to operate on them ≡ a satisfaction of the function by the variable.