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Single Idea 8853

[from 'Without Immediate Justification' by Michael Williams, in 13. Knowledge Criteria / B. Internal Justification / 4. Foundationalism / b. Basic beliefs ]

Full Idea

Basic judgements threaten to buy their immunity from error at the cost of being drained of descriptive content altogether.

Gist of Idea

Basic judgements are immune from error because they have no content

Source

Michael Williams (Without Immediate Justification [2005], §4)

Book Reference

'Contemporary Debates in Epistemology', ed/tr. Steup,M/Sosa,E [Blackwell 2005], p.210


A Reaction

This is probably the key objection to foundationalism. As you import sufficient content into basic experiences to enable them to actually justify a set of beliefs, you find you have imported all sorts of comparisons and classifications as well.