Truth, as it was during the time of St. Thomas and even more so today, has always been a complicated and delicate piece of conversation. With the dawn of the secular age and the eventual dissipation of knowledge into enclaves of expertise and specialized knowledge, the search for truth has been relegated to a quest for parochial certainties generated from and appropriated by the same interests limited and specific to such exclusive domains. The inadequacy of avenues and venues which renders the interface and dialogue among these domains of knowledge makes both truth-seeking and truth-telling doubly elusive. That truth is a mere prerogative of an individual, an interest group, or a huge dominant majority is gaining more and more traction today due largely to the savvy impact of digital technology, populism, the metric culture, social media plus the monetary dividend that comes with the ability to draw a large following or posting a high rating. In this conference, dubbed “Truth as Dialogue: Conversations on St. Thomas Aquinas and the Contemporary Questions on Truth,” we aim to gather scholars and researchers to discuss the question of truth today against the background of its contemporary impediments and St. Thomas Aquinas’ intellectual legacy. The goal is to locate truth wherever it is found (as propounded by St. Thomas) and to encourage its proponents to find a way to dialogue in an atmosphere of mutual respect and authentic criticism. Commitment to dialogue as a pathway to truth, as seen by St. Thomas Aquinas, is the only way we can mitigate the decadent environment sown by cancel culture, fake news, ideological manipulation, blind fascination with metrics, and other manifestations associated with the post-truth civilization.
This conference is part of the series of conferences to be hosted by the University of Santo Tomas (Manila) through its Ecclesiastical Faculties, Faculty of Arts and Letters, Institute of Religion, Graduate School and Center for Theology, Religious Studies and Ethics to celebrate the Triennium for St. Thomas Aquinas: the 700th anniversary of his canonization (2023), the 750th anniversary of his death (2024), and the 800th anniversary of his birth (2025). This will be done on July 18 & 19, 2023 at the University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines.
