Domestic Seminary

Year 10: Can Truth Be Known?

Age Range: 15-16 years (school Year 10) Core Themes: Epistemology (how we know), truth vs. relativism, objective morality, role of the Magisterium, logic and critical thinking. Primary Sources:

SECTION A: Driving Questions

The modern world is awash in relativism, the idea that there is no objective truth, especially in morality and religion. This year equips the adolescent disciple with the philosophical tools to understand what truth is, how it can be known, and how the Church serves as a reliable guide in a world of confusion.

SECTION B: Doctrinal Content

Question: Whether truth is objective or subjective?

Objection 1: It seems truth is subjective, for people often say, “That’s your truth, and I have my truth.” This suggests truth is a personal possession.

Objection 2: Furthermore, scientific “truths” are constantly being updated and changed. What was true yesterday is false today. Therefore, truth must be relative to the time.

Objection 3: Moreover, different cultures have radically different moral truths. Some cultures practiced human sacrifice, which we find abhorrent. This shows that truth is culturally constructed.

On the contrary, Jesus Christ does not say “I am a truth,” but “I am the truth”¹. And it is a basic principle of reason that a thing cannot both be and not be at the same time in the same respect (the law of non-contradiction).

I answer that we must distinguish between objective truth and subjective opinion. Objective truth is the correspondence of the mind to reality; it conforms to what is, independent of what we think or feel. Subjective opinion is what we happen to believe, which may or may not align with reality.

The very statement “all truth is subjective” is a claim to an objective truth and is therefore self-refuting. If it is objectively true that truth is subjective, the statement itself is an objective truth, and thus it contradicts itself. If it is only subjectively true, then I am free to reject it. Relativism is intellectually incoherent.

Truth is not something we invent, but something we discover. Our minds are made for reality, as our lungs are for air. When our thoughts match reality, we are in the truth, and this is where we find freedom².

Reply to Objection 1: This phrase confuses “truth” with “perspective” or “belief.” A person has a perspective on the truth, but they do not possess their own separate truth. Two people can’t have “their own truth” about whether the sun is hot or whether 2+2=4.

Reply to Objection 2: This confuses the development of our understanding of truth with a change in truth itself. Our scientific knowledge of gravity has developed from Newton to Einstein, but gravity itself has not changed. Science is a process of getting closer to the truth about the physical world, which implies a stable truth exists to be discovered.

Reply to Objection 3: While cultural practices vary, core moral principles (the Natural Law) are surprisingly universal. No culture values cowardice over courage or advocates for the random murder of its members. Even the culture practicing human sacrifice believed they were doing something necessary to appease the gods; they were mistaken about reality, but they were still acting on a perceived (though false) moral imperative.

Question: Whether one must follow one’s conscience even if it contradicts Church teaching?

Objection 1: It seems so, for the Church herself teaches that a person must always obey the certain judgment of his conscience³. Therefore, conscience is the final authority.

Objection 2: Furthermore, to act against one’s conscience is to act without integrity. It is better to be a sincere heretic than an insincere Catholic.

Objection 3: Moreover, the Holy Spirit can speak directly to my heart and conscience, which is a more direct guide than the external rules of an institution.

On the contrary, the Second Vatican Council teaches that conscience is not an independent source of truth, but a “secret core and sanctuary” where a person is alone with God, “whose voice echoes in his depths”. That voice speaks the objective moral law.

I answer that this question reveals a profound modern misunderstanding of conscience. Conscience is not a ‘truth-creator’ but a ‘truth-detector.’ It is the intellectual faculty by which we apply objective moral law, which we know through faith and reason, to a specific, concrete situation.

Consider the analogy of a compass. A compass is an essential tool for navigation. You must always follow your compass. But what if the compass is broken and points south instead of north? Following it will lead you to disaster. Therefore, you have a prior, more fundamental duty: to ensure your compass is calibrated correctly—that it is oriented to True North.

Similarly, we have a duty to follow our conscience, but we have a graver, prior duty to form our conscience according to objective truth. This formation happens through prayer, study of Scripture and Tradition, humble acceptance of the Church’s Magisterial teaching, and seeking wise counsel. A conscience that is not tethered to the truth revealed by God through His Church is not a guide but a sentiment.

Reply to Objection 1: Yes, one must follow a certain conscience. But if your conscience is certainly telling you to do something the Church teaches is gravely sinful, it means your conscience is “erroneous.” You are culpable for the error if it comes from willful ignorance or a refusal to seek the truth. The immediate act of following the certain-but-wrong conscience may be subjectively blameless, but the prior act of failing to form it is not.

Reply to Objection 2: Sincerity does not make a wrong action right. One can be sincerely wrong. The sincere heretic is still in error. True integrity consists in aligning one’s entire being—conscience, intellect, and will—with the objective truth.

Reply to Objection 3: The same Holy Spirit who speaks in the depths of a well-formed conscience also protects the public teaching of the Church He founded. The Spirit does not contradict Himself. An interior prompting that contradicts settled Church doctrine is to be tested and is more likely from another source—the spirit of the age, or our own disordered desires.

SECTION C: Thinking and Reflection Activities

🔍 Critical Thinking Tasks

Logical Fallacy Hunt Learn to identify 3-5 common logical fallacies (e.g., Ad Hominem, Straw Man, False Dilemma). For one week, act as a “fallacy detective,” identifying examples in political commentary, advertisements, or social media debates.

Socratic Dialogue In pairs, have one person take the position “Truth is just a matter of opinion.” The other person’s role is only to ask clarifying questions (Socratic method) to gently expose the inconsistencies of the position. E.g., “Is that statement you just made an opinion or a truth?”

Magisterium Case Study Research the Church’s teaching on a controversial topic (e.g., contraception in Humanae Vitae). Trace the reasoning. How is it based on Scripture, Tradition, and Natural Law? Compare the Church’s argument with the common secular arguments.

🧠 Metacognitive Prompts

Epistemic Inventory

📖 Scripture Meditation: Pilate and Jesus

Read: John 18:33-38

Picture It: The scene is tense. A beaten man, Jesus, stands before the most powerful man in the region, Pilate. One claims to be a king who bears witness to the truth. The other scoffs, “What is truth?”

Think:

SECTION D: Integration With Life

🧍🏽 Real-World Moral Scenario

A group of friends is planning to cheat on a major exam. They’ve created a group chat to share answers. One says, “It’s not really wrong. The system is unfair, the teacher is terrible, and everyone does it. In this situation, it’s the right thing to do for us.”

Thinking with a Formed Conscience:

  1. Objective Law: Cheating is a form of stealing (stealing a grade) and lying (presenting another’s work as your own). It is objectively wrong (violates 7th and 8th commandments).
  2. Subjective Reasoning: The friends are using relativist arguments (“in this situation, it’s right”) and consequentialist reasoning (“the system is unfair”) to justify their actions. This is a malformed conscience at work.
  3. Your Action: What does truth demand? Not just to refrain from cheating yourself, but to refuse to be complicit. What does charity demand? To care about your friends’ integrity.
  4. Prudent Response: You could leave the group chat. You could state clearly, “I can’t be part of this, guys. It’s not right.” You might even consider your duty to protect the integrity of the exam by informing a trusted adult, which is a very difficult act of fortitude.

📱 Digital/Media Discernment

AI, Deepfakes, and the Post-Truth World We are entering an age where video and audio can be perfectly faked. It will become increasingly difficult to know if what we see is real.

🌏 Interfaith & Pluralism

Concepts of Truth and Authority

Dialogue Point: The Catholic position is unique. Authority is not in a book alone or an individual alone, but in the living Body of Christ, guided by the Holy Spirit. This is expressed through the three-legged stool: Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium. This structure is designed to preserve the deposit of faith through time and protect it from both individual error and cultural pressure.

👣 Saint of the Week: St. Thomas More

The Man of Conscience and Truth

Thomas More was the Lord Chancellor of England, the most powerful man after King Henry VIII. When the king wanted to divorce his wife and declare himself the head of the Church in England, he demanded all his nobles swear an oath acknowledging it. Thomas More refused.

He did not refuse loudly or aggressively. He simply remained silent. He was imprisoned in the Tower of London and pressured relentlessly. His own family begged him to sign the oath. He famously told his daughter Meg: “When a man takes an oath, Meg, he’s holding his own self in his own hands. Like water. And if he opens his fingers then—he needn’t hope to find himself again.”

He was not following a subjective feeling. His conscience had been meticulously formed by the 1500-year teaching of the Catholic Church. He could not, in good conscience, swear that the king was head of the Church when he knew Christ had given that authority to Peter and his successors. For this, he was beheaded, famously declaring he died “the king’s good servant, but God’s first.”

His Witness: A rightly formed conscience is not a ticket to do what you want, but the strength to do what you must.

SECTION E: Parent Guide

🔍 What This Year Is Really Forming

🧠 Theology Behind the Simplicity

🛠 How to Respond When…

“Who’s to say the Church is right and other religions are wrong?” “That’s a fair question. The Church’s claim is a bold one. We believe it’s the ‘right’ or ‘fullest’ path for a few key reasons: 1) It was founded by God Himself (Jesus Christ), not just by a wise human teacher. 2) Jesus backed up his divine claims by rising from the dead, a unique event in history. 3) The Catholic Church can trace its leadership (the popes and bishops) in an unbroken line back to the apostles Jesus chose. While other religions contain much wisdom and truth—what the Church calls ‘seeds of the Word’—we believe Catholicism contains the fullness of God’s self-revelation.”

“My conscience tells me that [X, which the Church teaches is wrong] is okay for me.” “I hear that you feel that way. Let’s separate two things: your feeling, and the reality. The Church teaches that our consciences are like a beautiful window to let God’s light in. But sometimes, the window gets dirty—from bad habits, from what our culture tells us, from our own desires. When our conscience tells us something different from what the Church has taught for 2000 years, it’s like a warning light that our window might be dirty. The loving thing to do for ourselves is to try and clean the window—through prayer, confession, and learning why the Church teaches what it does—so we can let the pure light of truth shine in.”

“The Church is just a bunch of old men in Rome making up rules.” “I can see why it might look that way from the outside. But let’s look deeper. The ‘rules’ (doctrines and moral teachings) aren’t made up. They are attempts to faithfully pass on what Jesus taught. The ‘old men in Rome’ see their job not as inventing new things, but as protecting the ‘deposit of faith’ from being changed or watered down. It’s like being the guardian of a priceless treasure. Their role is to ensure that we in the 21st century receive the same faith that the apostles received from Christ.”

🛑 What Not To Say

❌ “That’s just a mystery, don’t worry about it.” ✅ Say: “That’s a deep mystery, which means there’s more truth to explore, not less. Let’s dig in.”

❌ “Just be a good person, that’s all that matters.” ✅ Say: “Being a good person is essential! But we can’t know what ‘good’ is without ‘truth.’ The Church helps us understand both.”

❌ “Stop questioning and just believe.” ✅ Say: “Questioning is good; it’s how we move from a faith we’ve inherited to a faith we own. Let’s find good answers to your questions.”

🙏🏽 Liturgical Practices

📚 Further Adult Reading

SECTION F: Self-Reading Guide

🧩 What to Look For

🗣 Try Saying This

Which of these statements challenges you the most?

🔄 Think About This

✍ My Reflection Box

“A popular lie the world tells me is…” “The truth that sets me free from this lie is…”

“My conscience needs to be better formed in the area of…”

“St. Thomas More’s story inspires me to…”

📖 I Want to Know More About…

Check what interests you: □ The history of the Creeds. □ How papal infallibility actually works (and what it doesn’t mean). □ Natural Law and how it’s the basis for human rights. □ The lives of saints who were great thinkers, like Aquinas or Bonaventure. □ How to build a logical argument from scratch. □ How to dialogue with a moral relativist.

Seek out resources and conversations to learn more.


References

  1. John 14:6.
  2. John 8:32.
  3. Catechism of the Catholic Church §1790.
  4. Second Vatican Council, Gaudium et Spes §16.
  5. Catechism of the Catholic Church §1783-1785.
  6. Second Vatican Council, Ad Gentes §11.