CONSENT, UNIVERSAL, Argument from, to the necessity of the truth involved. «These things are to be regarded as first truths, the credit of which is not derived from other truths, but is inherent in themselves. As for probable truths, they are such as are admitted by all men, or by the generality of men, or by wise men; and among these last, either by all the wise, or by the generality of the wise, or by such of the wise as are of the highest authority» (Aristotle, Topic, bk. I. ch. I.).
| Cicero used it to prove the existence of the gods. De quo autem omnium natura consentit, id verum esse necesse est. Esse igitur deos, confitendum est (De Nat. Deor., lib. I. cap. XVII.). The argument is also used (De Nat. Deor., lib. II. cap. II.; and Tuscul. Quœst, lib. I. cap. XIII., where we read Omni autem in re, consensio omnium gentium lex naturæ putanda est). |
Multum dare solemus prœsumptioni omnium hominum. Apud nos veritatis argumentum est aliquid omnibus videri (Seneca, Epist., CVII., CXVII.).
Bacon is against this argument in the preface to his Instauratio Magna, aphorism 77. Reid applies this argument to establish first principles (Intellectual Powers, essay I. ch. II.). — V. AUTHORITY.
