ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the foundation theory of justification according to which all justification is based on self-justified or basic beliefs. It is traditional to formulate and discuss the foundation theory in terms of belief rather than acceptance; but the kind of state required for knowledge is acceptance directed at obtaining truth and avoiding error in what is accepted. Thus, for the foundation theory to succeed, the self-justified or basic beliefs must be things we are justified in accepting in our quest for truth and do not depend for their justification on anything else. Some foundation theorists, who have denied that the justification of basic beliefs need provide any guarantee of truth, have gone so far as to deny that such justification is connected with truth in any way at all. The foundation theorist must then explain how the justification is relevant to the truth of basic beliefs if it fails to guarantee their truth.
