Infinitism

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Infinitism is a theory in epistemology, the branch of philosophy that treats of the possibility, nature, and means of knowledge.

[edit] Epistemological infinitism

It is widely agreed that a belief cannot qualify as a case of knowledge unless it is justified or warranted. A belief held without sufficient grounds is no instance of knowledge.

Such theories as foundationalism, coherentism and philosophical skepticism differ over how beliefs come to be warranted. Most philosophers, and all three of those schools, hold that an infinite regression is an insufficient or improper method of justification. If A is justified because of B, and B is justified because of C, and so forth, then either (a) the chain must end with a link that requires no independent justification (a foundation), or (b) the chain must come around in a circle in some finite number of steps (the belief is justified by its coherence) or (c) our beliefs must not be justified after all (as skeptics believe).

But infinitism, the view for example of Peter Klein, challenges this minimal consensus. Klein regards a chain that goes on forever as a perfectly acceptable characteristic of knowledge.

[edit] External links

• (Prof. Klein's home page)
• (Prof. Klein's paper discussing both the validity and drawbacks of infinitism)