Apologetics to the Glory of God

An Informal Introduction to Covenantal Apologetics: Part 35 – Normative justification and warrant.

By C.L. Bolt

Something that is widely agreed upon across different views concerning the world is that there is an element of knowledge called “justification” or “warrant.” Broadly conceived, it is that element of knowledge pertaining to the basis, reason, evidence, etc. that we have for believing that something is true. There is also widespread disagreement as to what exactly constitutes justification or warrant, but most do agree that there is something like this necessary for knowledge. If there are those who do not believe that this is an element of knowledge then they have a radically different understanding of what knowledge is and should be asked how they understand or define knowledge.

To say that a person has warrant for his or her belief is to say that a person holds a belief in the right way. However, holding a belief in a right way assumes that there is a normative component to knowledge; there are particular things we ought to believe and other things we ought not to believe based upon the warrant we enjoy or lack with respect to them. Knowledge itself then requires there to be some sort of moral standard, or something analogous to – very close to – moral standard. When this realization is plugged back into the arguments concerning morality in the Christian and non-Christian worldviews the result is that knowledge itself is a serious problem for unbelievers because of its normative element.

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