Fact-checked by Grok 2 weeks ago

Infinitism

Infinitism is a theory in epistemology positing that the structure of epistemic justification for any belief consists of an infinite, non-repeating chain of reasons, where each reason supports the next without terminating in a foundation or looping back circularly.^[1] This approach addresses the epistemic regress problem—the challenge of explaining how beliefs can be justified without leading to an arbitrary stopping point, infinite regress, or vicious circularity—by embracing the regress as non-vicious and productive of increasing warrant.^[2] The roots of infinitism trace back to ancient Pyrrhonian skepticism, as articulated by Sextus Empiricus, who employed the mode of infinite regress to undermine dogmatic claims by showing that justifications require ever more reasons without end.^[1] In modern philosophy, the view was largely overlooked until Peter Klein revived and systematically defended it in the late 1990s, arguing that it outperforms rival theories like foundationalism, which posits noninferentially justified basic beliefs, and coherentism, which relies on mutual support among beliefs.^[3] Klein's formulation emphasizes that no belief is immune to further questioning, and justification arises dynamically through reasoning that originates and amplifies warrant along the chain.^[1] Key features of infinitism include its fallibilist stance, rejecting certainty as necessary for knowledge, and its distinction between propositional justification (available reasons) and doxastic justification (actually believed reasons).^[1] It holds that a belief is justified if a reasoner can provide a sufficiently long segment of the infinite chain in response to challenges, without needing to traverse the entire infinity, thus accommodating human cognitive limits.^[2] While infinitism has garnered interest for elegantly resolving the regress problem, it faces objections such as the finite mind objection, which questions how beings with finite minds can access or be warranted by an infinite structure, and skepticism about whether inferences can generate new justification rather than merely transfer it.^[2] Defenders like Klein respond that warrant accrues incrementally with each added reason and that contextual demands determine adequacy, preserving the possibility of knowledge.^[1]

Background in Epistemology

The Regress Problem

The regress problem in epistemology arises from the requirement that for a belief to be justified, it must be supported by reasons or evidence, which in turn demand their own justification. This creates a chain of justificatory reasons: to believe proposition P, one needs reason R1; but R1 itself requires justification via R2, R2 via R3, and so forth.^[4] If this chain lacks an adequate stopping point or structure, skepticism about the possibility of justified belief emerges, as no belief can be fully rationally supported.^[5] This issue is classically framed as Agrippa's trilemma, named after the Pyrrhonian skeptic Agrippa, who lived in the 1st or 2nd century CE and whose arguments are preserved in the works of Sextus Empiricus.^[6] The trilemma posits that any attempt to justify a belief confronts three equally problematic options: (1) an infinite regress of reasons, where justification continues endlessly without resolution; (2) circular reasoning, where the chain loops back to the original belief or a related set, rendering the support non-independent; or (3) unfounded axioms, where the chain abruptly halts at beliefs accepted without further justification, potentially as dogmatic assumptions.^[7] Agrippa's formulation, part of the Pyrrhonian modes of skepticism aimed at inducing suspension of judgment (epochē), highlights the apparent inescapability of these horns, challenging claims to epistemic certainty.^[6] The trilemma originated in ancient Pyrrhonian skepticism as a tool to undermine dogmatic assertions, with Agrippa's ten modes (including the regress-related ones) detailed by Sextus Empiricus around the 2nd-3rd century CE in his Outlines of Pyrrhonism. It experienced a revival in modern epistemology during the 20th century, particularly in analytic philosophy, where it became central to debates over the structure of justification amid renewed interest in skepticism and foundationalism.^[5] For instance, consider claiming knowledge that "the cat is on the mat" (P): this requires evidence like visual perception (R1), but R1 demands justification via reliable eyesight (R2), which relies on physiological facts (R3), and so on, potentially without end.^[4] The three primary responses to the regress problem—infinitism, foundationalism, and coherentism—emerge as attempts to navigate this trilemma, though each faces its own critiques.^[5]

Traditional Responses to the Regress

The traditional responses to the epistemic regress problem, excluding infinitism, primarily consist of foundationalism and coherentism, both of which seek to halt the regress of justification within a finite structure of beliefs.^[8] These approaches emerged as alternatives to the infinite regress option in Agrippa's trilemma, aiming to provide a stable basis for knowledge without endless deferral.^[9] Foundationalism asserts that epistemic justification requires a set of basic beliefs that are justified non-inferentially, serving as the foundation upon which all other beliefs are built through inference.^[8] These basic beliefs are typically self-evident, incorrigible, or directly evident, such as sensory experiences or a priori truths like mathematical axioms.^[10] A seminal example is René Descartes' cogito ergo sum ("I think, therefore I am") from his Meditations on First Philosophy (1641), where the indubitable awareness of one's own thinking establishes a foundational certainty immune to skeptical doubt.^[10] In this view, non-basic beliefs derive their justification linearly from these foundations, analogous to a building supported by its base, thereby avoiding circularity or infinite regress.^[8] Critiques of foundationalism center on the difficulty of identifying reliable basic beliefs and the potential isolation of higher-level beliefs from experiential input. One key objection, the myth of the given, argues that purported basic beliefs, such as immediate sensory reports, cannot provide noninferential justification because they already embed conceptual frameworks that require prior justification, rendering them non-basic after all.^[11] Wilfrid Sellars developed this critique in Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind (1956), contending that experiences are not "given" as brute facts but are theory-laden, undermining the foundationalist's claim to incorrigible starting points.^[11] Additionally, the arbitrariness objection questions how foundationalists select which beliefs qualify as basic without begging the question or appealing to regress.^[8] Coherentism, in contrast, rejects the need for foundational beliefs, proposing instead that justification arises from the mutual coherence among beliefs within a comprehensive web, where no belief is privileged as basic. Developed prominently in 20th-century analytic philosophy, this view treats the belief system holistically, with justification depending on probabilistic support, explanatory relations, and consistency across the network.^[12] Willard Van Orman Quine advanced coherentism in his essay "Epistemology Naturalized" (1969), integrating it with naturalism by viewing scientific knowledge as a web adjustable at the periphery through empirical encounters, rather than rebuilt from absolute foundations.^[12] Quine famously invoked Otto Neurath's boat analogy to illustrate this: just as sailors repair their ship at sea using only onboard materials, without access to a dry dock, beliefs are revised holistically in light of experience, preserving overall coherence without isolated anchors. A primary critique of coherentism is the isolation objection, which holds that a coherent belief system may justify its members internally but fail to connect to the external world, allowing for epistemically justified yet false belief networks detached from reality.^[13] For instance, a perfectly coherent set of beliefs about an imaginary scenario could be as justified as one corresponding to actual events, raising doubts about coherentism's ability to ensure truth-conduciveness.^[13] Another concern is the possibility of multiple equally coherent but incompatible systems, leading to relativistic justification without a means to prefer one over another.^[13] Historically, foundationalism traces back to Descartes' foundational project in the 17th century, emphasizing rational certainty amid skepticism, while coherentism gained traction in the 20th century through Quine and others responding to logical empiricism's challenges, marking a shift toward holistic and naturalistic epistemologies.^[10]^[12]

Core Concepts of Infinitism

Definition and Basic Principles

Infinitism is an epistemological theory that maintains epistemic justification for a belief requires an infinite, non-repeating chain of reasons, where each reason supports the prior one without looping back or terminating in an unfounded base.^[14] This view, prominently defended by Peter Klein, rejects the notion that justification must end at self-evident foundations or circular coherence, instead proposing that the structure of reasons forms an endless regress that enhances warrant progressively.^[1] In this framework, no belief achieves full justification in isolation; rather, its degree of justification depends on the availability of an unending series of supporting reasons, each contributing incrementally to the overall epistemic support.^[14] A core principle of infinitism is the acceptance of a benign infinite regress as a solution to the epistemic regress problem, distinguishing it from vicious regresses like circular reasoning, which fail to genuinely advance justification.^[1] Unlike circularity, where reasons merely recycle without net gain, the infinitist chain ensures that each step originates and amplifies a distinct form of warrant, allowing reasoning to build epistemic strength indefinitely without requiring completion of the infinite process in practice.^[14] This avoids the pitfalls of finite limits by treating justification as a dynamic, context-sensitive accumulation rather than a static endpoint.^[1] Central to infinitism is the tenet that every justified belief remains open to further interrogation, with partial justifications compounding across the infinite chain to yield overall rationality, even if a finite mind cannot enumerate all reasons exhaustively.^[14] For instance, the belief that a cat is on the mat might be initially justified by direct observation, which in turn is supported by the reliability of one's senses, justified further by evidence from perceptual psychology, which draws on neuroscientific data, and so on in an unending sequence of evidential layers.^[15] This contrasts briefly with foundationalism, which posits arbitrary stopping points at basic beliefs immune to further challenge.^[14]

The Role of Infinite Chains in Justification

In infinitism, the logical structure of epistemic justification involves an infinite, non-circular chain of beliefs or reasons, where each member provides support for the preceding one without termination or repetition. Formally, a belief B_1 is justified by a reason B_2, which in turn is justified by B_3, and so on, forming an unending series B_1 \leftarrow B_2 \leftarrow B_3 \leftarrow \cdots, such that the entire chain confers positive epistemic status to B_1 through cumulative evidential support.^[1] This structure avoids foundationalism's reliance on unjustified basic beliefs and coherentism's circularity, positing instead that justification arises from the availability of this endless path of reasons, which need not be fully traversed by the believer at any given time.^[16] Infinite chains confer justification incrementally, with each additional link in the regress adding a measure of warrant or evidential support to the initial belief, though the process approaches but never attains absolute certainty. As philosopher Peter Klein argues, "having reasons for a belief does add a type of warrant for holding it," and this warrant originates anew through the act of reasoning rather than merely being inherited from prior links.^[1] Unlike finite chains that might collapse under scrutiny for lacking a secure base, the infinitist chain generates ongoing evidential value, ensuring that justification is dynamic and responsive to further inquiry without requiring completion of the infinite series.^[1] A critical distinction in infinitism is between vicious and virtuous regresses, where vicious regresses—such as circular ones that render a belief epistemically prior to itself—fail to provide genuine justification due to their inherent flaws. In contrast, virtuous infinite regresses are linear, non-repeating, and unending but productive of warrant, as they allow for reasons that build evidential support without looping back; infinitism holds that such regresses remain viable for finite minds because justification requires only the contextual availability of sufficient reasons, not exhaustive traversal.^[1] This virtuous nature ensures the chain remains a viable source of justification, distinguishing infinitism from problematic forms of regress.^[1] The strength of justification derived from an infinite chain exhibits contextual variability, depending on the depth of the chain that is explored or deemed necessary within a specific epistemic situation. Klein emphasizes that "how far forward in providing reasons S needs to go... is a matter of the pragmatic features of the epistemic context," such as the beliefs under challenge or the stakes involved in the inquiry.^[1] Thus, in low-stakes contexts, a finite segment of the chain may suffice for adequate justification, while higher scrutiny demands extending further into the infinite series, adapting the evidential support to practical demands without altering the underlying endless structure.^[1]

Historical Development

Ancient and Medieval Precursors

In ancient Greek philosophy, Aristotle provided a foundational conceptual precursor to discussions of infinite series through his distinction between actual and potential infinity in the Physics. He argued that while no actual infinite magnitude or number can exist, as it would imply a completed whole that exceeds any finite part, a potential infinite is possible in processes like division or generation, where one can always proceed further without end.^[17] This framework addressed paradoxes like Zeno's, allowing for endless regress in certain causal or spatial contexts without positing an actual infinite.^[18] Sextus Empiricus, in his Outlines of Pyrrhonism (c. 200 CE), further explored infinite regress as one of the ten modes of skepticism, attributing it to Agrippa as a challenge to dogmatic claims of knowledge. In this mode, any justification requires further justification, leading to an infinite chain that undermines certainty without resolving to a foundation, though Sextus presented it as a tool for suspending judgment rather than endorsing infinite justification as viable.^[19] This regress argument, part of Agrippa's trilemma alongside circularity and unfounded assumption, highlighted the epistemic problems of endless chains in Hellenistic skepticism.^[20] Non-Western parallels appear in Indian philosophy, particularly in the Nyāya school's epistemological and metaphysical arguments dating to the 2nd century BCE. The Nyāya-sūtra employed regress arguments to critique infinite causal chains, contending that such regresses in explaining phenomena like motion or perception lead to explanatory failure, thus necessitating terminating principles such as atoms or a supreme cause to avoid vicious infinity.^[21] For instance, Nyāya thinkers like Gautama rejected infinite regress in justification (anavasthā-prasanga) as it renders knowledge impossible, favoring finite inferential chains grounded in perception and inference.^[22] During the medieval period, infinite regresses featured prominently in theological debates, as seen in Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologica (1265–1274). Aquinas rejected actual infinite regresses in efficient causal series, arguing in his Second Way that such chains cannot account for the existence of effects without a first uncaused cause (God), as an infinite series lacks the explanatory power to initiate the chain. However, he allowed for potential infinites in certain contexts, such as successive generations or divine attributes, distinguishing them from vicious regresses in created causation.^[23] This nuanced treatment influenced scholastic discussions on whether infinite processes could coherently exist within a finite universe ordered by divine reason.^[24]

Modern Formulation and Key Contributors

Infinitism emerged as a distinct position in contemporary epistemology during the late 20th century, amid ongoing debates over the epistemic regress problem in analytic philosophy journals.^[14] Although earlier mentions of infinitist ideas appeared in the 1980s—such as Paul Moser's 1984 rejection of "epistemic infinitism" and John Post's 1987 dismissal of the "infinitist's claim"—these were largely critical and did not advocate the view.^[14] The theory gained formal traction starting in the 1990s, with its modern defense crystallizing in the early 2000s through explicit arguments for infinite, non-repeating chains of justification as necessary for epistemic warrant.^[25] Peter Klein played a pivotal role in formulating and popularizing infinitism, beginning with his 1998 article "Foundationalism and the Infinite Regress of Reasons," where he first articulated the view that justification requires an infinite series of reasons without foundational stopping points. Klein expanded this in subsequent works, including his 2000 paper "Why Not Infinitism?," which positioned infinitism as a solution to skepticism by rejecting finite justifications in favor of unending regresses that enhance doxastic strength. His contributions, detailed in articles like "Infinitism is the Solution to the Epistemic Regress Problem" (2005), established infinitism as a viable alternative to foundationalism and coherentism, influencing debates in epistemology.^[3] Scott F. Aikin further developed infinitism in the mid-2000s, building on Klein's framework with expansions that addressed potential objections and integrated the view into broader epistemic theories. In his 2005 article "Who is Afraid of Epistemology's Regress Problem?", Aikin defended infinitism against charges of impracticality, arguing that infinite regresses align with contextualist demands for justification.^[26] Aikin's 2011 book Epistemology and the Regress Problem provided a comprehensive case for infinitism, emphasizing its compatibility with cognitive values like explanatory power and resistance to skepticism. Earlier hints of infinitist ideas can be traced to Wilfrid Sellars' work in the 1960s, particularly in his holistic approach to justification in Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind (1963), where he critiqued foundationalism and suggested that epistemic warrant arises from interconnected, potentially unending inferential networks rather than isolated basics. This laid indirect groundwork for later infinitist formulations, though Sellars did not explicitly endorse infinite chains.^[27] The formalization of infinitism post-2000 occurred within institutional contexts like specialized conferences on epistemic regress and publications in journals such as Philosophical Studies and Synthese, where Klein and Aikin's papers sparked symposia and responses. For instance, Klein's 2005 contribution appeared in Contemporary Debates in Epistemology, fostering ongoing dialogue among epistemologists.^[3]

Arguments For Infinitism

Positive Arguments from Contextualism

Infinitism receives affirmative support from epistemic contextualism, the view that standards for epistemic justification and knowledge claims shift according to contextual factors, such as the practical stakes or conversational demands involved. In ordinary, low-stakes contexts, a limited chain of reasons may adequately justify a belief, but in high-stakes or skeptical scenarios, stricter criteria demand more extensive support. Infinitism accommodates this variability by maintaining that an infinite, non-repeating chain of reasons is always potentially available, enabling justification to scale with contextual needs without invoking infallible foundations or circular coherence.^[3] A key argument posits that finite justifications, whether foundational or coherentist, falter under skeptical pressure because they impose arbitrary stopping points in reasoning, failing to meet heightened contextual demands for further evidence. In contrast, infinitism's infinite chains defeat skepticism by providing an inexhaustible supply of reasons, ensuring that justification can be enhanced indefinitely to counter any legitimate challenge without compromising fallibilism.^[3] This approach aligns with contextualism's emphasis on pragmatic flexibility, as the availability of endless reasons prevents the regress from undermining knowledge attribution in rigorous contexts.^[28] Peter Klein develops this contextual defense in his analysis of the regress problem, arguing that only infinitism avoids arbitrary cutoffs by allowing each step in the infinite chain to contribute incrementally to a belief's warrant, adaptable to varying epistemic standards.^[3] For example, an everyday belief such as "the cat is on the mat" might be justified finitely in casual conversation (e.g., via immediate perception), but deeper inquiry in a skeptical or high-stakes context—such as verifying evidence for a scientific claim—reveals the potential for an infinite chain of supporting reasons, thereby satisfying elevated demands without halting at an unjustified base.^[29]

Defenses Against Finite Justification Limits

Infinitists rebut foundationalism by emphasizing its inherent arbitrariness in designating certain beliefs as basic or foundational, thereby imposing artificial limits on justification. Peter Klein argues that foundationalism fails to provide a non-question-begging criterion for selecting which beliefs serve as stopping points in the regress of reasons, as the claim that a belief possesses the property of being foundational itself demands further justification. Without such justification, accepting any belief as basic appears arbitrary, undermining the theory's claim to resolve the regress problem. This critique extends to the notion of privileged access in foundationalism, where Klein contends that no belief enjoys immunity from further interrogation or a special status exempt from the need for reasons. Infinitism counters this limitation by positing infinite, non-repeating chains of reasons, which ensure that justification progresses indefinitely without relying on ungrounded endpoints, thus eliminating arbitrariness while maintaining the possibility of epistemic progress. Against coherentism, infinitists challenge the theory's reliance on mutual interdependence among beliefs, which introduces circularity that does not genuinely originate or enhance justification. Klein maintains that circular reasoning merely recirculates warrant without addressing why the coherent set as a whole is truth-conducive, rendering acceptance of the system arbitrary and question-begging. In response, infinitism proposes linear infinite chains that avoid mutual dependence, allowing each reason to build upon prior ones in a non-circular manner, thereby providing progressively stronger support for the target belief.

Criticisms and Objections

The Problem of Arbitrary Stopping Points

One prominent objection to infinitism posits that, although the theory theoretically requires an infinite chain of justifications for any belief, human cognizers cannot actually traverse such a chain due to finite cognitive capacities, resulting in arbitrary stopping points in practical reasoning that undermine the purported non-arbitrariness of infinitist justification.^[14] This critique, often termed the finite mind objection, argues that since believers must halt their justificatory regress at some finite stage—limited by what they can mentally access or rehearse—the effective justification reverts to an arbitrary endpoint, similar to the foundationalist structures infinitism seeks to avoid.^[30] A related variant, known as the availability objection, contends that even if an infinite chain exists in principle, finite agents cannot possess the dispositions to access or rehearse the entire chain in the required order, as probabilistic models of justification do not ensure availability to human cognizers.^[31] For instance, critics argue that without actual access to the regress, the justification fails to apply practically, rendering infinitism vulnerable to the finite minds problem. This objection finds empirical support in psychological research on human cognitive limits, particularly working memory constraints, which restrict the simultaneous holding and manipulation of information to roughly 4-7 items, thereby impeding the rehearsal of extended justificatory sequences required for infinitist chains.^[32] Studies in cognitive psychology demonstrate that such limitations hinder complex reasoning tasks, suggesting that epistemic agents cannot practically access or evaluate the infinite regress infinitism demands without resorting to heuristic shortcuts that introduce arbitrariness.^[33]

Challenges from Practical Reasonableness

Critics argue that attempting to traverse or even contemplate an endless regress would overwhelm cognitive capacities, preventing believers from ever achieving the full justificatory structure infinitism demands. As a result, infinitism allegedly leads to epistemic paralysis, where decision-making and belief formation are stalled by the impossibility of completing infinite inquiry in finite time.^[34] This practicality concern extends to ethical and pragmatic contexts where finite decisions are essential, such as in legal proceedings or scientific research. In law, for instance, jurors must render verdicts based on available evidence without indefinite deferral to further reasons, as infinite regresses would undermine timely justice. Similarly, scientists rely on provisional conclusions to advance knowledge, where demanding endless justification could halt empirical progress. These applied scenarios highlight infinitism's tension with practical reasonableness, as real-world actions require halting inquiry at finite points despite the theory's insistence on infinite chains.^[35] A variant of this objection draws an analogy to Zeno's paradoxes, particularly the Achilles and the tortoise, to illustrate the epistemic impasse. Just as Achilles appears unable to overtake the tortoise due to an infinite series of ever-diminishing intervals, critics contend that epistemic agents cannot "catch up" to justification through infinite reasons, as the process never concludes within finite cognitive bounds. This Zeno-inspired critique, applied to justification, underscores the regress's impracticality for human knowers.^[36] In the 2010s and beyond, philosophical exchanges in journals debated whether partial access to infinite chains suffices for justification, questioning if infinitism's "good enough" approximations align with knowledge standards. Proponents like Peter Klein argued that finite segments of potential infinite regresses provide proportional justification, but detractors maintained this dilutes the theory's rigor, failing to resolve practical demands for complete epistemic support. These discussions, spanning venues like Philosophical Studies and Logos & Episteme, emphasized infinitism's challenge in balancing theoretical infinity with cognitive finitude.^[37]^[35] More recent objections include the distinction objection, which questions whether infinitism can adequately differentiate between propositional justification (reasons available) and doxastic justification (believed reasons) in an infinite chain, potentially collapsing the two and undermining the theory's internal coherence. Additionally, the unexplained origin objection challenges how the infinite regress provides warrant for the earliest accessible beliefs without an independent source.^[30]^[14]

Comparisons to Alternative Theories

Infinitism Versus Foundationalism

Infinitism and foundationalism represent two contrasting approaches to the structure of epistemic justification, differing fundamentally in their treatment of justificatory chains. Foundationalism posits a hierarchical structure where basic beliefs serve as the foundational base, justified without reliance on further reasons, upon which non-basic beliefs are built through inferential relations. In contrast, infinitism rejects any such "rock bottom," advocating instead for an infinite, non-repeating chain of reasons that extends indefinitely without a terminating point.^[1] This structural divergence means that foundationalism seeks to halt the epistemic regress at privileged endpoints, while infinitism embraces the regress as essential to ongoing justification. The justificatory outcomes of these theories also diverge sharply. Foundationalism aims to provide absolute, non-inferential warrant for basic beliefs, which is then transmitted to derived beliefs, yielding a complete and stable form of justification. Infinitism, however, delivers partial and context-sensitive justification, where the strength of warrant depends on the number and quality of reasons available in a given epistemic context, without requiring exhaustive traversal of the infinite chain.^[1] This flexibility allows infinitism to adapt to varying epistemic demands. Post-2000 debates have highlighted this rivalry, particularly through Peter Klein's critiques of reformed foundationalism, such as Alvin Plantinga's proper functionalism. Klein argues that even reformed versions, which ground basic beliefs in reliable cognitive faculties, cannot escape the regress problem, as they arbitrarily designate certain beliefs as immune to further reasoning without adequate normative support. These exchanges, including responses from foundationalists like Michael Bergmann, underscore infinitism's challenge to foundationalism's claim to solve the regress without skepticism. Infinitism offers advantages over foundationalism by avoiding the isolation of basic beliefs from broader justificatory scrutiny and the arbitrariness of selecting endpoints, thereby aligning better with the intuition that additional reasons always enhance warrant.^[1] However, it risks underjustification, as the infinite chain may never provide the full closure that finite minds seek, potentially leaving beliefs provisionally justified at best in practical contexts.

Infinitism Versus Coherentism

Infinitism and coherentism both reject foundationalism's demand for basic beliefs that terminate justificatory regresses without further reasons, positioning themselves as alternatives that accommodate the apparent need for ongoing support in epistemic justification.^[1] They share this anti-foundational stance, emerging prominently in epistemological discussions from the late 20th century onward, with Laurence BonJour's coherentism articulated in The Structure of Empirical Knowledge (1985) and Peter Klein's infinitism developed in works such as "Human Knowledge and the Infinite Regress of Reasons" (2000).^[38]^[39] The core divergence lies in their handling of the infinite regress: infinitism maintains a linear, hierarchical chain of distinct reasons extending infinitely, where each belief gains warrant from a subsequent, non-repeating reason without circularity.^[1] Coherentism, by contrast, envisions justification through a non-hierarchical web of beliefs, where warrant emerges holistically from the mutual coherence and support among beliefs in the system, potentially allowing circular interconnections.^[40] Infinitism explicitly deems such circularity non-justificatory, as it fails to provide the progressive evidential buildup required for genuine warrant transfer.^[2] This structural contrast is illustrated by key metaphors: coherentism draws on Otto Neurath's ship, depicting a belief system repaired incrementally at sea—replacing planks with others from the vessel itself—emphasizing holistic mutual reinforcement without external anchors. Infinitism, however, resembles an endless ladder, where justification involves perpetually ascending rungs of reasons, each supporting the prior without looping back or halting arbitrarily.^[1] In addressing skepticism, infinitism offers a stronger resistance to global doubt by ensuring unending evidential support that accumulates warrant indefinitely, thereby sidestepping coherentism's vulnerability to the isolation objection, where a self-coherent but detached web of beliefs might not reliably connect to external reality.^[2]

Contemporary Influence

Applications in Epistemic Justification

Infinitism applies to belief formation by maintaining that perceptual beliefs and other ordinary knowledge claims derive their justification from infinite, non-repeating chains of reasons, where each reason in the chain is supported by further reasons without requiring the full traversal of the infinite series. This structure allows beliefs to be epistemically warranted in practice, as the availability of endless supporting reasons enhances the belief's credibility even if only a finite segment is actively considered by the believer. For instance, a belief in the presence of an object based on visual perception can be justified through a chain beginning with sensory input, followed by reliability of the senses, calibrated by past experiences, and extending indefinitely into theoretical underpinnings of perception, without foundational termination.^[41]^[1] In addressing defeaters within contextual epistemology, infinitism utilizes the infinite regress to rebut potential undefeated defeaters by providing an unending supply of rebutting reasons that can counter skeptical challenges or undermining evidence. A defeater, such as a proposition that casts doubt on the reliability of a perceptual report, is neutralized not by a finite defense but by the capacity to generate further justifications that diminish its epistemic force, ensuring that justification persists across varying contextual standards of scrutiny. This approach aligns with contextualist views by allowing the stringency of required reasons to shift with the epistemic context, while the infinite chain guarantees resilience against exhaustive defeat.^[41]^[1] Infinitism supports pedagogical practices in teaching critical thinking by extending the Socratic method through endless chains of questioning, where each answer prompts further legitimate inquiry to deepen understanding and refine beliefs. In educational settings, this encourages students to avoid premature acceptance of reasons, fostering a habit of perpetual reason-giving that mirrors the infinite structure of justification and promotes robust epistemic habits over reliance on unexamined foundations. Such an approach underscores that no belief is immune to further challenge, thereby cultivating ongoing intellectual humility and analytical rigor.^[1] A notable case study of infinitism's application appears in the justification of scientific hypotheses, where defenses emphasize infinite theoretical regresses as aligning with the iterative progress of scientific inquiry. For example, hypotheses in physics or biology gain warrant through chains of evidential support that extend indefinitely, such as theoretical models justified by empirical data, which in turn are supported by methodological assumptions, observational protocols, and foundational principles of inference, without circularity or arbitrary stops. This framework, as articulated in epistemological analyses, explains how scientific knowledge accumulates value through unending reasoning, evidenced by advancements in fields like quantum mechanics where regressive theoretical layers continually enhance justificatory strength.^[41]^[42]

Ongoing Debates and Extensions

Extensions of infinitism beyond core epistemic concerns have appeared in ethics, where it informs models of moral reasoning through infinite regresses of ethical principles. Scott F. Aikin proposes three variants of moral epistemic infinitism: piggyback moral infinitisms, which depend on empirical infinitism; substantive empiricist moral infinitisms, requiring infinite chains of descriptive facts; and substantive rationalist moral infinitisms, requiring infinite chains of normative reasons. These approaches aim to resolve regresses in moral knowledge, such as justifying "lying is wrong" via endless derivations from broader principles like harm avoidance, without terminating in ungrounded intuitions.^[43] Open questions persist regarding infinitism's compatibility with reliabilism, a process-oriented theory emphasizing reliable belief-forming mechanisms.^[44] Future directions include integrating infinitism with Bayesian epistemology to handle probabilistic infinite regresses. Jeanne Peijnenburg and David Atkinson demonstrate that an infinite chain of conditional probabilities can yield non-zero justification for a belief, even starting from minimal priors, by showing that the limit of the product converges positively under certain damping conditions. This probabilistic infinitism counters objections to infinite regresses by quantifying how each additional reason incrementally boosts credence, offering a bridge to Bayesian updating in scenarios with unending evidence streams. A.C. Paseau further defends this by arguing that probabilistic justification via infinite chains avoids arbitrariness, providing a gradualist alternative to foundationalist or coherentist models.^[45]^[46]

References

[1]
[PDF] INFINITISM - Peter D. Klein - Joel Velasco
Peter D. Klein ... —— (2005c) “Infinitism's Take on Justification, Knowledge, Certainty and Skepticism,” Perspectives in. Contemporary Epistemology ...
[2]
[PDF] Is Infinitism the Solution to the Regress Problem?
According to Peter Klein, the regress problem “concerns the ability of reasoning to increase the rational credibility of a questioned proposition.Missing: review | Show results with:review
[3]
Infinitism is the Solution to the Epistemic Regress Problem.
Infinitism is the Solution to the Epistemic Regress Problem. Peter D. Klein. In Steup Matthias & Sosa Ernest (eds.), Contemporary Debates in Epistemology.
[4]
[PDF] The epistemic regress problem - Semantic Scholar
Sep 1, 2008 · The best extant statement of the epistemic regress problem makes assumptions that are too strong. An improved version assumes only that that ...Missing: revival | Show results with:revival
[5]
Peter Klein, Contemporary Responses to Agrippa's Trilemma
This article discusses contemporary response to the epistemic regress problem or Agrippa's trilemma. The epistemic regress problem is considered the most ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[6]
[PDF] AGRIPPAN PYRRHONISM AND THE CHALLENGE OF ...
The three modes in question constitute what in contemporary epistemology is known as “Agrippa's trilemma” or the “epistemic regress problem.”3 Much of recent ...
[7]
(PDF) Moral Applicability of Agrippa's Trilemma - ResearchGate
Aug 9, 2025 · This essay examines whether and to what extent the trilemma applies to ethics. There are various responses to the trilemma, such as ...
[8]
[PDF] FOUNDATIONALISM Michael Bergmann
In short, foundationalism (understood as the endorsement of the premises and conclusion of the regress argument) is extremely plausible and the objections to it ...
[9]
[PDF] Varieties of Metaphysical Coherentism - PhilArchive
Jul 24, 2022 · epistemologists maintain that coherentism is only plausible if beliefs are woven into systems consist- ing of diverse epistemic relations, like ...
[10]
Meditations on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes
Meditations on First Philosophy in which are demonstrated the existence of God and the distinction between the human soul and the body.
[11]
[PDF] EMPIRICISM AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF MIND - Quam Proxime
Republished as a separate book, Empiricism and the Philosophy of. Mind, with an introduction by Richard Rorty and a study guide by Robert. Brandom (Cambridge, ...
[12]
[PDF] Epistemology Naturalized - Joel Velasco
The conceptual studies are concerned with clarifying concepts by defining them, some in terms of others. The doctrinal studies are concerned with establishing ...
[13]
(PDF) Coherentism and the Isolation Objection - Academia.edu
In this paper I ask whether Lehrer's coherentism withstands the familiar isolation objection to epistemic coherentism. Part 1 outlines Lehrer's coherentism ...
[14]
Infinitism in Epistemology - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
There has been some recent interest in infinitism, beginning when Peter Klein published the first in a series of articles defending infinitism (Klein 1998).Introduction · Historical Discussion of Infinitism · Common Objections to Infinitism
[15]
Epistemic Justification - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
A second objection to coherentism is called the isolation objection. Even if a collection of beliefs could explain, and thereby justify, its members, it is not ...
[16]
[PDF] PETER KLEIN'S INFINITISM PRECLUDES JUSTIFICATION
Infinitism is the view that a belief is justified if and only if, for a subject S, there is an endless chain of non-circular propositions available such that ...
[17]
ARISTOTELIAN INFINITY - by Jonathan Lear - jstor
It is always possible to think of a greater number, for the divisions of a magnitude are infinite. So it is potentially infinite, but not actually infinite; ...Missing: source | Show results with:source
[18]
ARISTOTLE, ZENO, AND THE POTENTIAL INFINITE By David Bostock
Aristotle is generally thought to have held that nothing is actually infinite though several things are potentially infinite. It.Missing: scholarly | Show results with:scholarly
[19]
Sextus Empiricus - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Jan 17, 2014 · Sextus Empiricus was a Pyrrhonian Skeptic living probably in the second or third century CE, many of whose works survive, including the Outlines ...
[20]
[PDF] SEXTUS EMPIRICUS - OUTLINES OF PYRRHONISM
one is involved in a process of circular reasoning or in regress ad infinitum. ... Scepticism nor would it be consistent in a Sceptic to embrace that doctrine.
[21]
Epistemology in Classical Indian Philosophy
Mar 3, 2011 · The Nyāya-sūtra argues that the Nāgārjunian type of skepticism is self-defeating (4.2.26–36), but many of the problems identified by the ...
[22]
Nyaya - Nyāya - Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Nyāya's methods of analysis and argument resolution influenced much of classical Indian literary criticism, philosophical debate, and jurisprudence.Missing: scholarly | Show results with:scholarly
[23]
Aquinas on Infinite Regresses - jstor
In this paper I discuss Thomas Aquinas' views about infinite re- gresses, primarily why he allows some and rejects others. I will.Missing: theology | Show results with:theology
[24]
Infinite Causal Regress And The "Secunda Via" In The Thought Of ...
Thomas Aquinas often wielded the idea of an infinite regress in his theological and philosophical treatises. In the famous Five Ways, the notion of the ...
[25]
https://philpapers.org/rec/KLEFAT
[26]
Who is Afraid of Epistemology's Regress Problem?
They fail with a developed theory of “infinitism” consistent with valuational pluralism and modest epistemic foundationalism. Article PDF. Download to read the ...
[27]
Wilfrid Sellars: Philosophy of Mind
Sellars calls this the thesis of “Psychological Nominalism,” and it is at the heart of his epistemology and theory of mind. We don't know the world just by ...Missing: infinitism | Show results with:infinitism
[28]
Can Infinitists Handle the Finite Mind Objection and the Distinction ...
Feb 9, 2021 · This paper examines two objections to the infinitist theory of epistemic justification, namely “the finite mind objection” and “the distinction objection.”2 Infinitism And Its... · 3.1 The Finite Mind... · NotesMissing: review | Show results with:review
[29]
[PDF] Probabilistic regresses and the availability problem for infinitism
Recent work by Peijnenburg, Atkinson, and Herzberg suggests that the infinitist who accepts a probabilistic construal of justification can.
[30]
Probabilistic Justification and the Regress Problem - jstor
© Springer 2008. Jeanne Peijnenburg. David Atkinson. Probabilistic Justification and the Regress Problem ... "Infinitism ... depicts justification as emerging ...
[31]
Working Memory Underpins Cognitive Development, Learning, and ...
Working memory is the retention of a small amount of information in a readily accessible form. It facilitates planning, comprehension, reasoning, ...Missing: epistemology | Show results with:epistemology
[32]
Why bounded rationality (in epistemology)? - Thorstad - 2024
Apr 30, 2023 · Herbert Simon held that human rationality is shaped by a pair of scissors, whose blades are the agent's internal cognitive limitations and the ...
[33]
Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy
INTRODUCTION TO MATHEMATICAL PHILOSOPHY. by. BERTRAND RUSSELL. LONDON: GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN, LTD. NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN CO., First published May 1919Missing: critiques | Show results with:critiques
[34]
[PDF] Philosophy of mathematics - LSE
Nevertheless the infinite still appears in the infinite numerical series which defines the real numbers and in the concept of the real number system which ...
[35]
[PDF] Phil. 159: Epistemology Nov. 6, 2018 Lecture 18: Infinitism
Nov 6, 2018 · According to infinitism, a belief is justified at a given time for a given subject if and only if its chain of support is infinitely long and ...
[36]
Jeremy Fantl, Infinitism and Practical Conditions on Justification
This paper brings together two recent developments in the theory of epistemic justification: practical conditions on justification, and infinitism (the view ...Missing: partial debate
[37]
Zeno's Paradoxes - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Apr 30, 2002 · ... Zeno's infinity of half-runs. The former is 'potentially infinite' in the sense that it could be divided into the latter 'actual infinity'.Missing: infinitism | Show results with:infinitism
[38]
Is Klein an infinitist about doxastic justification? | Philosophical Studies
Mar 7, 2007 · This paper is a response to Peter Klein's “Human Knowledge and the Infinite Progress of Reasoning” (also in this issue of this journal).Missing: critique | Show results with:critique
[39]
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2676107
[40]
The Structure of Empirical Knowledge - Harvard University Press
In this unpretentious, well-written study Laurence BonJour rejects foundationalist theories of epistemic justification and sees no alternative to a coherence ...Missing: PDF | Show results with:PDF
[41]
Human Knowledge and the Infinite Regress of Reasons - jstor
The purpose of this paper is to ask you to consider an account of justification that has largely been ignored in epistemology. When it has been considered, ...
[42]
[PDF] The Coherence Theory of Empirical Knowledge - andrew.cmu.ed
The Coherence Theory of Empirical Knowledge. LAURENCE BONJOUR. In a paper written for a commemorative symposium on the philosophy of C. I. Lewis,. Roderick ...
[43]
Infinitism's Take on Justification, Knowledge, Certainty and Skepticism
Aug 8, 2025 · O propósito deste artigo é mostrar como podem ser desenvolvidas explicações robustas de justificação e de certeza no interior do infinitismo ...
[44]
[PDF] Scott Aikin, Epistemology and the Regress Problem
But, as Aikin himself highlights, infinitism – which is, essentially, the view that epistemic justification requires an infinite chain of reasons (or, in other ...
[45]
Testimony and the First-, Second-, and Third-Person Perspective
Dec 18, 2020 · Epistemic infinitism is certainly not a majority view in contemporary epistemology. While there are some examples of infinitism in the ...
[46]
Prospects for Moral Epistemic Infinitism - Aikin - Wiley Online Library
Apr 3, 2014 · This article poses two regresses for justification of moral knowledge and discusses three models for moral epistemic infinitism that arise.
[47]
[PDF] Why Thomas Aquinas Rejects Infinite, Essentially Ordered, Causal ...
Sep 5, 2013 · Abstract. Several of Thomas Aquinas's proofs for the existence of God rely on the claim that causal series cannot proceed in infinitum.
[48]
Modest Infinitism | Canadian Journal of Philosophy | Cambridge Core
Jan 1, 2020 · Infinitism, a theory of the structure of justification most recently developed and defended by Peter Klein, is the view that justification ...Missing: partial debate<|control11|><|separator|>
[49]
Justification by an Infinity of Conditional Probabilities - Project Euclid
The consequences, however, have not been adequately appreciated. In this paper we show that the assumption invalidates some venerable attacks on infinitism: ...
[50]
Infinitism and probabilistic justification - jstor
Nov 16, 2013 · can indeed be justified by an infinite chain of reasons, if justification is understood probabilistically. In the following, I will discuss ...