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The problem of ‘double truth’ emerges whenever there is a kind of difference in
attitude about issues that are the subject of dual treatment: theological on one hand, and philosophic or scientific on the other hand. That attempt at reconciliation and accommodation between the two domains shows the embarrassment of the thinker who tries to maintain the validity of propositions that may be contradictory, postulating the ‘unity of truth’ and -at the same time- retaining the distinction between the two areas.
The books considered here are Fasl al-Maqalof IbnRushd (1126-1198), the
Summa contra Gentiles of Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) and Letter to the Grand
Duchess Christine of Lorraine of Galileo Galilei (1564-1640). The common element is that the three books are ‘writings of circumstances’, whose authors were forced to write, given the context of interaction of each of the three thinkers. They showed an acute awareness that they are ‘coming out’ of their own domains to consider from another point of view, in order to answer to questions by talking with their opponents on their ground and using their tools. Averroes, the philosopher, writes from the point of view of the Shariaa to defend the act of philosophizing, Thomas Aquinas, the theologian, writes from the wise man’s point of view to defend the faith, and Galileo, the philosopher of nature and the scientist writes from the point of view of the believer to defend a scientific theory. The purpose here is to draw attention to the presence of a ‘thematic continuity’, and to the articulation of the principle of ‘unity of the truth’ with a certain conception of the limits of human reason, and the conditions of diffusion of its results.