Infinite regress

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See also: Infinite Regress (Voyager episode)

An infinite regress in a series of propositions arises if the truth of proposition P₁ requires the support of proposition P₂, and for any proposition in the series P_n, the truth of P_n requires the support of the truth of P_n+1. There would never be adequate support for P₁, because the infinite series needed to provide such support could not be completed.

Distinction is made between infinite regresses that are "vicious" and those that are not. One definition given is that a vicious regress is "an attempt to solve a problem which re-introduced the same problem in the proposed solution. If one continues along the same lines, the initial problem will recur infinitely and will never be solved. Not all regresses, however, are vicious." [1]

[edit] Optics

Infinite regress in optics is the formation of an infinite series of receding images created in two parallel facing mirrors.

[edit] See also

• Cosmological argument
• Regress argument