FOUNDATIONALISM
92and others seeking to expose implicit or
disguised forms of control, repression,
and development. His works include The
Order of Things (1969), The Archaeology
of Knowledge (1969), Discipline and
Punish (1975), and History of Sexuality,
3 vols. (1976, 1984).
FOUNDATIONALISM. All of our
justified beliefs have their justification
because of their relationship to a base
of justified (perhaps even self-justified)
beliefs. Descartes was a prominent foun-
dationalist. An alternative epistemology
appeals to coherence and mutual support.
On this view, there is not a single, presti-
gious base of certain knowledge, but a
web of beliefs that are (ideally) mutually
supportive and self-correcting.
FRANCIS OF ASSISI, St. (1182–1226).
Francis of Assisi is best known in the
Christian faith as the Patron Saint of Ani-
mals and the founder of the Franciscan
order. He is also a Patron Saint of the
environment and of Italy. St. Francis was
the son of a wealthy merchant and in his
youth seemed destined to a life in the
upper class. However, his engagements
in merriment and military service were
soon overpowered by his desire to help
the poor. In his quest for spiritual enlight-
enment, he gradually withdrew from
his carefree lifestyle. Eventually Francis
renounced all of his worldly possessions,
despite his father’s vehement protests.
Within a year Francis had 11 followers
and was granted permission by Pope
Innocent III to found a new religious
order. Francis was never ordained as a
priest, so he and his followers were
originally known as the Order of Friars
Minor.
Today members of this order are
commonly referred to as Franciscans.
Members of the order take a vow of pov-
erty and usually own no property. They
live a communal lifestyle with the mem-
bers of their order, striving to live as
true to Jesus’ teachings as possible in
accordance with the Rule of St. Francis.
Interestingly, the first documented case
of stigmata is attributed to St. Francis. In
1224, during a 40-day fast, the vision of
an angel with six wings overcame Francis.
The angel, a seraph, gave Francis the five
wounds of Jesus Christ as a gift.FREE WILL. The most stringent form
of free will is called libertarianism and
holds that a subject freely does X when
she does X but could have done other-
wise, even given all prior and contempo-
raneous events and the prevailing laws of
nature. Less stringent forms of free will
held by thinkers such as Locke and Hume
hold that freedom involves simply a
subject acting upon given desires (whose
origin is not of concern). The latter is
compatible with determinism—insofar as
the desires an individual wills to fulfill
may be completely determined—this
view is sometimes called compatibilism.