Overview
The foundation engine holds what a system knows and why it believes it. Every other part of the system, the constraint engine included, reasons from the ground it provides.
It draws on epistemology: the difference between a belief and a justified belief, and between confidence and evidence.
Justified Knowledge
Each claim in the foundation carries its support: where it came from, how strong the evidence is, and what would count against it. A claim without support is marked as a guess, not stored as a fact.
Calibration
The engine keeps its confidence in line with its evidence. When it is unsure, it says so, and it can explain what extra information would settle the question.
Revision
Knowledge is never final. Following pragmatism, the foundation treats each outcome as new evidence and revises beliefs that stop leading to good action, keeping a record of what changed and why.