Consensus theory of truth#Consensus gentium

Should be called in philosophy a consensus on an idea, an assumption or belief that is found universally, and their distribution is not based on exchange and therefore due to the similar nature of reason: Consensus gentium (, conformity of peoples ' Latin ).

On several of the consensus as an argument for the truth of general concepts, especially the concepts of God and immortality is headed. This concerns in particular the later Stoics: In the Tusculanae Disputationes Cicero speaks with the idea of ​​God from the consensus nationum ( Tuscul. disp I, 16, 36. ). Further evidence can be found in Seneca (Ep. 117, 6) and Minucius Felix ( Octav. 8, 1).

A special role in the theory of the universality of religious beliefs for the Natural Theology.

About the primitive peoples Friedrich Engels wrote: " This Personifikationstrieb everywhere just created gods, and the consensus gentium [ ... ] just only proves the universality of this Personifikationstriebs as a necessary transitional stage, including religion. "

The consensus, however, is not evidence for the validity or truth of an idea, not even for their universality, although it can be reconstructed as empirical induction with respect to this. It is, rather, a form of rhetorical figure argumentum ad populum. And if it was treated as evidence, it is a fallacy.