Postulate
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): ( n.) Something demanded or asserted; especially, a position or supposition assumed without proof, or one which is considered as self-evident; a truth to which assent may be demanded or challenged, without argument or evidence.
(2): ( n.) The enunciation of a self-evident problem, in distinction from an axiom, which is the enunciation of a self-evident theorem.
(3): ( a.) Postulated.
(4): ( v. t.) To beg, or assume without proof; as, to postulate conclusions.
(5): ( v. t.) To invite earnestly; to solicit.
(6): ( v. t.) To take without express consent; to assume.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [2]
( Αἴτημα , Postulatum, that which is Asked or assumed to prove something else). "According to some, the difference between axioms and postulates is analogous to that between theorems and problems: the former expressing truths which are self-evident, and from which other propositions may be deduced; the latter, operations which may easily be performed, and by the help of which more difficult constructions may be effected." There is a difference between a postulate and a hypothesis. When you lay down something which may be, although you have not proved it, and which is admitted by the learner or the disputant, you make a hypothesis. The postulate, not being assented to, may be contested during the discussion, and is only established by its conformity with all other ideas on the subject.
