Can an infinite regress justify everything?

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterAcademic

Abstract

It has been argued that an infinite regress of entailments cannot justify a proposition, q. For if it could, then it can be shown that any proposition can be justified in that manner, including ¬q. This chapter shows that this reductio ad absurdum weakens in the face of a so-called probabilistic regress, in which justification is only probabilistic. The reason is that, whereas a regress of entailments offers no entry point for the world, in the probabilistic regress the empirical thrust is carried by an infinite number of conditional probabilities. This chapter explains to what extent these conditional probabilities differ from the basic beliefs that lie at the heart of epistemic foundationalism.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAd Infinitum
Subtitle of host publicationNew essays on epistemological infinitism
EditorsJohn Turri, Peter Klein
PublisherOxford University Press
Pages162-178
Number of pages17
Publication statusPublished - 2014

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