Klein and the Regress Argument

In John Turri & Peter D. Klein (eds.), Ad infinitum: new essays on epistemological infinitism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 37-54 (2014)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Peter Klein has taken Aristotle’s regress argument for foundationalism as a point of departure for developing a view he calls ‘infinitism’. In this paper, I offer a critique of Klein’s view. I argue for three main conclusions. First, Klein’s response to the regress argument for foundationalism is neither infinitism nor foundationalism but a distinct position I call the “unjustified foundations” view. Second, Klein’s “unjustified foundations” view is subject to some serious problems that make it inferior to foundationalism. Third, Klein’s objections to foundationalism fail to knock it from its place of superiority over the “unjustified foundations” view. Before defending these three conclusions in sections 3-5, I begin with an account of the regress argument for foundationalism in section 1 and with a brief presentation of Klein’s views in section 2.

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 93,031

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Is Klein an infinitist about doxastic justification?Michael Bergmann - 2007 - Philosophical Studies 134 (1):19 - 24.
Benign Infinity.Matthias Steup - 2019 - In Cherie Braden, Rodrigo Borges & Branden Fitelson (eds.), Themes From Klein. Springer Verlag. pp. 235-57.
On the regress argument for infinitism.John Turri - 2009 - Synthese 166 (1):157 - 163.
Finite Reasons Without Foundations.Ted Poston - 2014 - Metaphilosophy 45 (2):182-191.
The trouble with infinitism.Andrew D. Cling - 2004 - Synthese 138 (1):101 - 123.
Foundationalism and arbitrariness.Daniel Howard-Snyder - 2005 - Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 86 (1):18–24.

Analytics

Added to PP
2024-05-15

Downloads
8 (#1,343,911)

6 months
8 (#415,703)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Michael Bergmann
Purdue University

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references