Human minds are not formal logical systems. We don't have axioms per se (that is, a belief or desire held with absolute certainty from which all of our other ideas follow). This is true even when we think we believe something axiomatically.
Another way of thinking of this is that our ideas are not a hierarchy with one level at the bottom and each level as the foundation for the next. Instead, they form a "heterarchy" -- a complex, twisted network of interconnections, where the right argument or experience can modify what previously seemed to be the most deeply-held idea.
Another way of thinking of this is that our ideas are not a hierarchy with one level at the bottom and each level as the foundation for the next. Instead, they form a "heterarchy" -- a complex, twisted network of interconnections, where the right argument or experience can modify what previously seemed to be the most deeply-held idea.