Zimmermann on the Knowledge of the Truth

This contribution sheds light on the question of truth in the thought of a prominent Croatian 20th-century philosopher - Stjepan Zimmermann (1884-1963). Zimmermann holds that the question of truth is not only a fundamental question of philosophy, but also one of science in general. In Zimmermann's view, every scientific discipline is dependent on epistemology - the philosophical doctrine of true knowledge. A central task of noetics aims to answer the following questions: Is there absolute truth? Is all truth equally valid not only with regard to man (in relative terms) but also independently of the knower (in absolute terms)? Seeking an answer, Zimmermann adheres to the objectivist view, in accordance with which he defines "knowledge/cognitio" as the determination of the subject in terms of the object. By using the crucial evidence or proof of the objectivist noetics - the immediate manifestation of the intended reality in a proposition - Zimmermann expands the value of true knowledge/cognition beyond the limits of the laws of thoughts, and grounds it in the objective being.