Are truth, goodness, and beauty related?

C.S. Lewis and many others of the greatest minds in the Western tradition thought so. For thousands of years, philosophers and theologians have argued that these “three transcendentals” are fundamentally connected. To understand one, you must understand all three.

Truth, goodness, and beauty are called the “three transcendentals” because they transcend anything that we find in the material world. In other words, self-sacrifice might be good, but it is not goodness itself. Similarly, a landscape may be beautiful, but it is not beauty itself.

Following the tradition of philosophical giants like Plato and Aristotle, Catholic philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas wrote that “the primary truth is greater than the soul.” In his opinion, the fullness of truth was far greater than anything the intellect could comprehend. So while things can be true, good, and beautiful, no one can truly grasp any of the transcendentals on this earth.

Yet though the fullness of truth, goodness, and beauty transcend the universe, philosophers have always believed that they play a powerful role guiding action in the world.

Aristotle, for instance, saw that striving for beauty is transformative. As people try to make beautiful things, they are led to true things. And as they comprehend the truth, they are drawn toward goodness. In his words, “If all people competed for the beautiful, and strained to do the most beautiful things, everything people need in common, and the greatest good for each in particular, would be achieved.”

Modern thinkers have consistently echoed these ancient insights. The most popular modern Christian theologian, C.S. Lewis, thought deeply about the three transcendentals. Here is how the authors of C.S. Lewis as Philosopher: Truth, Goodness and Beauty explained it:

The order of these three transcendentals of truth, goodness and beauty is ontologically founded. Truth is defined by Being, for truth is the effulgence of Being, the revelation of Being, the word of Being. … Goodness is defined by truth, not by will, which is good only when it conforms to the truth of Being. And beauty is defined by goodness, objectively real goodness, not by subjective desire or pleasure or feeling or imagination, all of which should conform to it.

They go on to make another connection:

However, the psychological order is the reverse of the ontological order. As we know Being through first sensing appearances, so we are attracted to goodness first by its beauty, we are attracted to truth by its goodness, and we are attracted to Being by its truth. But ontologically, truth depends on Being, goodness on truth, and beauty on goodness. Truth is knowing Being. Goodness is true goodness. And the most beautiful thing in the world is perfect goodness.

Lewis thought that truth is the fullness of all that exists (“Being”). Being is not something the human mind creates; it is something the human mind must align itself to—we must orient ourselves to reality. Similarly, what is good is inherently tied to what is true, which may not be what we want it to be. Finally, beauty is not a matter of subjective preference, but the manifestation of the good.

And these transcendentals have imminent significance for human flourishing. In another book, Lewis wrote that to enjoy anything, we must put “first things first.” In his opinion, happiness comes to those who strive for truth, goodness, and beauty. And when they succeed in seeking out the three transcendentals, they transcend themselves.

That is a vision worth learning about.

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Image credit: “C.s Lewis in studio” by Aronsyne on Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.