 A variety of objections have been raised against causal theories of the basing relation  generally.[2]  The most common of these is the problem of deviant causal chains, a problem which plagues causal analyses in general. With regard to the basing relation, the problem is that not every instance of a reason’s causing a belief will establish a basing relation. Alvin Plantinga illustrates the problem well (Plantinga 1993, p. 69, n.8):