Single Idea 4256

[catalogued under 13. Knowledge Criteria / B. Internal Justification / 4. Foundationalism / e. Pro-foundations]

Full Idea

The central argument for foundationalism is simply that all other possible outcomes of the regress of justifications lead inexorably to scepticism.

Clarification

The 'regress' is every belief being endlessly justified by another belief

Gist of Idea

The main argument for foundationalism is that all other theories involve a regress leading to scepticism

Source

Laurence Bonjour (Externalist Theories of Empirical Knowledge [1980], §I)

Book Reference

'Epistemology: Internalism and Externalism', ed/tr. Kornblith,Hilary [Blackwell 2001], p.11


A Reaction

If you prefer coherence to foundations, you need the security of reason to assess the coherence (which seems to be an internal foundation!).