Aristotle believed that the axiom does not require proof because of its clarity, simplicity and clarity. Euclid viewed geometric axioms as self-evident truths, which are sufficient to deduce other truths of geometry.
Meaning and interpretation
Indeed, the word axiom comes from the Greek axioma, which means the initial and accepted position of any theory, taken without logical proof and underlying the proof of its other positions. In other words, this is a starting point, a true position that cannot be proved and at the same time does not need any proof at all, since it is obvious and therefore can be a starting point for other positions.
Often the axiom was interpreted as an eternal and immutable truth, which is known before any experience and does not depend on it. The very attempt to substantiate the truth could only undermine its evidence.
Also, the axiom was taken on faith, unprovable in this theory. If the axiom is taken on faith, then with an honest and conscientious approach, it can be the subject of additional attention and critical perception in all important situations. In other words, wherever practical tasks of the search for truth are solved. Usually well-known and repeatedly tested concepts are cited as axioms.
There is an axiom of trading, an axiom of systems, there are axioms of statics, axioms of stereometry, planimetry, there are axioms for construction and legal axioms.
Well-known axioms: the law of contradiction, the law of identity, the law of sufficient reason, the law of the excluded middle. These are logical axioms.
Axioms of geometry: axiom of parallel lines, axiom of Archimedes (axiom of continuity), axiom of membership and axiom of order.
Rethinking the rationale
The rethinking of the problem of substantiating the axiom has changed the content of this term. The axiom is not the initial beginning of cognition, but its intermediate result. The axiom is not justified by itself, but as a necessary constituent element of the theory. The criteria for choosing an axiom vary from theory to theory.
As stated above, from antiquity to the mid-19th century, the axiom was considered a priori true and intuitively obvious. However, this overlooked its conditionality by human practical activity. For example, Lenin wrote that the practical-cognitive activity of a person, repeating itself millions and billions of times, remains in his consciousness as logical figures, which, precisely because of this repeated repetition, acquire the meaning of the axiom.
Modern understanding requires only one condition from the axiom: to be the starting point for the derivation with the help of already accepted logical rules from all the other theorems or propositions of this theory. The truth of the axiom is decided within the framework of other scientific theories. Also, the implementation of an axiomatic system in any subject area speaks of the truth of the axioms adopted in it.