Self-evidence

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 the concepts mean different things, i.e., an analytic proposition is not always a self-evident proposition. Provided that one understands and believes a self-evident proposition, self-evident propositions are not in need of proof. Likewise, that their denial is self-contradictory does not need to be proven. It is in this sense that the self-contradictions at work in self-evident and analytic propositions are different. Not all analytic propositions are self-evident, and it is sometimes claimed that not all self-evident propositions are analytic: e.g. my knowledge that I am conscious. ==Other uses==

Informal speech In informal speech, self-evident often merely means obvious, but the epistemological definition is stricter. Moral propositions Moral propositions may also be regarded as self-evident, although the is–ought problem described by David Hume considers that there is no coherent way to transition from a positive statement to a normative one. For example, Alexander Hamilton cited the following moral propositions as self-evident in the Federalist No. 23: • 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 United States Declaration of Independence, which states, "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."; philosophically, these propositions' self-evidence is debatable. Mathematics In mathematics, self-evident refers to statements that need no proof. Sometimes axioms are described as self-evident. Other statements are self-evident because the statement is a proof for itself.. == See also ==