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Epistemology

Presupposition

An implicit assumption that must be true for an argument to make sense, often unexamined by the person making the argument.

Every argument rests on presuppositions — foundational beliefs that are assumed rather than argued for. Debby counts the number of presuppositions in each worldview's argument chain. Fewer presuppositions generally indicates a more rigorous argument, though the quality of presuppositions matters more than quantity.

**Example:** The scientific method presupposes the uniformity of nature (that experiments will produce consistent results). A materialist who uses science to argue against God must presuppose this uniformity — but within pure materialism, there is no justification for why nature should be uniform.

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