Terminology Tuesday: Properly Basic Beliefs
Properly Basic Beliefs: According to foundationalism, there are beliefs that are called properly basic beliefs. Such beliefs are basic in the sense that they are not justified by or based on other beliefs. If we use the term evidence to mean “propositional evidence,” then evidence refers to cases in which a person S believes a proposition and this serves as the basis for believing another proposition. A properly basic belief is basic in the sense that it is not believed on the basis of evidence, that is, it is not based on belief in another proposition.1
1. J.P. Moreland & William Lane Craig, Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview, p. 112.