Externalism vs. Internalism

Externalism and internalism are theories about what justifies our beliefs. Internalism holds that for a belief to be justified, the justifying factors must be accessible to our awareness—like reasons we can explicitly consider. Externalism argues that justification depends on external factors outside our awareness, such as the environment or reliable processes that produce true beliefs. In simple terms, internalism insists that we need to recognize our reasons for belief internally, whereas externalism accepts that some justified beliefs are dependable because of external conditions we might not directly perceive.