A self-evident truth does not need a proof; it only needs to be understood. If a university assembled a committee of scholars and spent years and millions of dollars examining those statements about Columbus and Milton, absolutely nothing would be gained. When the scholars issued their report, people would be right to say it was a waste of time and money. However, most of us would probably not make reference to self-evident truths to make that point. Instead of saying there was no need for the all the expenditure of time and money because the statements are self-evidently true, we would be more likely to say it was a waste of time and money because “it’s just common sense.”
The Founders would agree with us, though they might want to help our understanding along by pointing out the difference between a self-evident truth and our capacity to recognize a self-evident truth.
Common sense gives us the capacity to recognize what is self-evidently true, and using common sense to recognize what is self-evidently true is something we do all the time. And every time we do, we disprove the claims of those who defy common sense by claiming that there is no such thing as truth.
Robert Curry