(August 12, 2016 at 2:26 pm)FatAndFaithless Wrote: Couldn't I just construct a belief that by definition has no external defeaters, and then call it 'properly basic'?
There are other conditions like properly functioning cognitive faculties, cognitive faculties are operating reliably aimed at truth, and formed in an appropriate epistemic environment (meaning you have, at the very least, internal reasons for the belief). I think these would preclude a belief constructed just to avoid defeaters.