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Fading Foundations Probability and the Regress Problem

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This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. 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...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Atkinson, David (auth)
Other Authors: Peijnenburg, Jeanne (auth)
Format: Electronic Book Chapter
Language:English
Published: Springer Nature 2017
Series:Synthese Library
Subjects:
Philosophy: epistemology & theory of knowledge
Mathematical foundations
Probability & statistics
History of science
Operational research
Epistemology
Mathematical Logic and Foundations
Statistical Theory and Methods
History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics
Operations Research/Decision Theory
Philosophical Foundations of Physics and Astronomy
Operations Research and Decision Theory
Epistemic Justification
Infinite Regress
Regresses in Epistemology
Regresses in Ethics
Regresses in Metaphysics
Regresses in Philosophy of Mind
Open Access
Mathematical logic
Management decision making
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Summary:This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. 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.
Physical Description:1 electronic resource (238 p.)
ISBN:978-3-319-58295-5
Access:Open Access

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