Existing attempts to give an account of the basing relation encounter a dilemma: either one appeals to linking or bridge principles that intellectualize and threaten regress, or one appeals to some kind of "mechanical'' process that does not adequately reflect the way basingis a first-personal activity: something we do in quite a robust sense of the word. I explain why this dilemma seems insuperable by articulating certain commitments about the nature and grounds of mental processes. I explain why these commitments should be rejected anyway. I then offer a new account of the basing relation that expands upon my view that knowledge, rather than belief, deserves priority in our scientific and philosophical explanations, and that it is best understood as a manifestation of competence. I show how the view plausibly captures both the genuinely agential and genuinely causal nature of basing.