Self-evidence

For most others, one's belief that oneself is conscious and possesses free will are offered as examples of self-evidence.

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

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: 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.