The abstractive work of the mind, either superficial or profound, accompanies all our sense knowledge, and the mind has a tendency to unify all the data, and to arrive at an intelligible object that is increasingly complete. The mind is ever on the lookout for being, and seizes it whenever it presents itself. Intellectus potest quodammodo omnia fieri. But it grasps reality imperfectly. The reflective study of the epistemological problem throws light upon the spontaneous operation of the mind.
Reflection makes it evident that truth is found only in a judgment.
Secundum hoc cognoscit veritatem intellectus quod supra se ipsum reflectitur. It also makes it evident that mind in its spontaneous judgments seizes reality. Ia, q. 17, art. The senses do not err concerning their proper object. Sensus tactus quansi fundamentum aliorum sensuum.