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Self-evidence
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In Epistemology , a self-evident proposition is one that is known to be true by understanding its meaning without Proof .

Some epistemologists deny that any proposition can be self-evident. For most others, the belief that oneself is Conscious is considered to be self-evident. However, one's belief that someone else is conscious is not epistemically self-evident.

The following Metaphysical propositions are often said to be self-evident:
  • ''A finite whole is greater than any of its parts.''

  • ''It is impossible for the something to be and not be at the same time in the same manner.''


Certain forms of argument from self-evidence are considered fallacious or abusive in debate. For example, if a proposition is claimed to be self-evident, it is an argumentative Fallacy to assert that disagreement with the proposition indicates misunderstanding of it.


ANALYTIC PROPOSITIONS

It is sometimes said that a self-evident proposition is one whose denial is self-contradictory. It is also sometimes said that an Analytic Proposition is one whose denial is self-contradictory. But these two uses of the term ''self-contradictory'' mean entirely different things. A self-evident proposition cannot be denied without ''knowing'' that one contradicts oneself (provided one actually understands the proposition). An analytic proposition cannot be denied without a contradiction, but one may fail to ''know'' that there is a contradiction because it may be a contradiction that can be found only by a long and abstruse line of logical or mathematical reasoning. Most analytic propositions are very far from self-evident. Similarly, a self-evident proposition need not be analytic: my knowledge that I am conscious is self-evident but not analytic.

An Analytic Proposition , however long a chain of reasoning it takes to establish it, ultimately contains a Tautology , and is thus only a verbal truth: a truth established through the verbal equivalence of a single meaning. For those who admit the existence of abstract concepts, the class of ''non-analytic'' self-evident truths can be regarded as truths of the understanding--truths revealing connections between the meanings of ideas.


OTHER USES

Claims of ''self-evidence'' also exist outside of epistemology.


Informal speech

In informal speech, ''self-evident'' often merely means ''obvious'', but the epistemological definition is more strict.


Moral propositions

Moral propositions can also be said to be self-evident. For example, Alexander Hamilton cited the following moral propositions as self-evident in The ''Federalist'' #31:
  • ''The means ought to be proportioned to the end.''

  • ''Every power ought to be commensurate with its object.''

  • ''There ought to be no limitation of a power destined to effect a purpose which is itself incapable of limitation.''


A famous claim of the self-evidence of a moral truth is in the ''U.S. Declaration Of Independence'' , which states, ''We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal....'' Philosophically, that proposition is not necessarily self-evident, and the subsequent propositions surely are not. Nevertheless, many would agree that the proposition ''we ought to treat subjects known to be equal in a certain sense equally in regard to that sense'' is morally self-evident. Thus, as Thomas Jefferson proposed, one can ''hold'' the propositions to be self-evident as the basis for practical, even revolutionary, behaviors.