Self-Evident
Updated 2026-08-09
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
A proposition, such as an axiom or definition, that is accepted as true without demonstration and serves as a starting point for deductive reasoning. Its core proposition is that every chain of justification terminates somewhere, so asking why eventually arrives at premises taken as given rather than proved, and those premises are where an argument's real commitments live. The qualifier is that what one community treats as self-evident may be contested elsewhere.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Obvious marking: flag every proposition your argument treats as too obvious to need support. - Proof demand: ask whether it is genuinely self-evident or merely familiar to your group. - Context test: check whether it still holds under different assumptions or cultural settings.
Anchor fast decisions
Reasoning proceeds by deriving conclusions from premises, so the premises themselves are never justified by the argument that rests on them. Making those starting points explicit converts an invisible commitment into a testable claim, which is the only way to examine the assumptions that the rest of the reasoning depends on.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- zh.wikipedia.orghttps://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%8D%E8%AD%89%E8%87%AA%E6%98%8Everified
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