Overview
- This is an Open Access publication and the content is freely downloadable Sets out a potentially transformative, probabilistic approach to infinite regresses
- Cogent critical analysis of current limitations in infinitist methodology
- Core thematic focus on epistemology
Part of the book series: Synthese Library (SYLI, volume 383)
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This book addresses the age-old problem of infinite regresses in epistemology. How can we ever come to know something if knowing requires having good reasons, and reasons can only be good if they are backed by good reasons in turn? The problem has puzzled philosophers ever since antiquity, giving rise to what is often called Agrippa's Trilemma. The current volume approaches the old problem in a provocative and thoroughly contemporary way. Taking seriously the idea that good reasons are typically probabilistic in character, it develops and defends a new solution that challenges venerable philosophical intuitions and explains why they were mistakenly held. Key to the new solution is the phenomenon of fading foundations, according to which distant reasons are less important than those that are nearby. The phenomenon takes the sting out of Agrippa's Trilemma; moreover, since the theory that describes it is general and abstract,it is readily applicable outside epistemology, notably to debates on infinite regresses in metaphysics. The book is a potential game-changer and a must for any advanced student or researcher in the field.
This book addresses the age-old problem of infinite regresses in epistemology. How can we ever come to know something if knowing requires having good reasons, and reasons can only be good if they are backed by good reasons in turn? The problem has puzzled philosophers ever since antiquity, giving rise to what is often called Agrippa's Trilemma. The current volume approaches the old problem in a provocative and thoroughly contemporary way. Taking seriously the idea that good reasons are typically probabilistic in character, it develops and defends a new solution that challenges venerable philosophical intuitions and explains why they were mistakenly held. Key to the new solution is the phenomenon of fading foundations, according to which distant reasons are less important than those that are nearby. The phenomenon takes the sting out of Agrippa's Trilemma; moreover, since the theory that describes it is general and abstract,it is readily applicable outside epistemology, notably to debates on infinite regresses in metaphysics. The book is a potential game-changer and a must for any advanced student or researcher in the field.
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
Authors and Affiliations
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Fading Foundations
Book Subtitle: Probability and the Regress Problem
Authors: David Atkinson, Jeanne Peijnenburg
Series Title: Synthese Library
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58295-5
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-58294-8Published: 07 July 2017
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-86368-9Published: 12 May 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-58295-5Published: 26 June 2017
Series ISSN: 0166-6991
Series E-ISSN: 2542-8292
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XI, 238
Topics: Epistemology, Mathematical Logic and Foundations, Statistical Theory and Methods, History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics, Operations Research/Decision Theory