Questions tagged [foundationalism]
The foundationalism tag has no usage guidance.
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Can the PSR be true for everything except the universe?
There is something called the principle of sufficient reason: everything happens for a reason. I believe that everything happens for a reason because inductively, that has been the case every time. It ...
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The knowability principle and the regress-theoretic epistemic types
The generic knowability principle is that if t is some truth, then it is possible for t to be known: t → ◊Kt. If foundationalism, coherentism, infinitism, and their combinations are taken as epistemic ...
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What does it mean for something to “break” infinite regress?
When it comes to the cosmological argument, proponents point out that a first cause is needed to stop an infinite regress of causes.
In epistemology, foundationalism is used to break the infinite ...
user62907
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How many variations on graph-theoretic/related parameters indicate alternatives to foundationalism/coherentism/infinitism?
The set theory I'm trying to work in right now is geared towards applying an "axiom of multifoundation" whose local maximum representation is:
The interpretation of the elementhood glyphs ...
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Are beliefs like "I am in pain" really incorrigible and basic?
I am reading about epistemology and foundationalism and I see this claim that beliefs about your own inner mental states are incorrigible and basic. But is that really so? For someone to believe the ...
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Basic truths as self-justified or parajustified
Some foundationalists maintain that basic truths are self-justifying, which means they are allowing, in some exceptional cases at least, a form of circular reasoning; petitio principii or begging the ...
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Descartes' foundationalism [closed]
Is the cogito an axiom from which we can reason axioms of mathematics? Was Descartes' aim to make mathematics (and other fields of knowledge) reducible to the cogito?
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Is category theory an example of foundherentism?
After reading this essay about the history of type theory, I have refined my assessment of the set- vs. type-theory question in two ways. More similarly to what I was thinking before, I still ground ...
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Second-order skepticism
Let "kS" = "It is known that S." Then kkS or k2S is a common hypothesis in epistemic logic (the full hypothesis can be stated as kS → k2S). So a second-order skeptic [SOS] at least ...
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A "paradox" of coherentism?
This is a follow-up to a question I had about foundationalism, which seems paradoxical inasmuch as it is a thesis that has been argued for (perhaps it is just the historical argumentation that is ...
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A "paradox" of foundationalism?
(Caveat: I use the word "paradox" here as in "Skolem's paradox," a quasi-contradictory (if you will) conjunction of facts, not an outright contradiction.)
I actually can ask the ...
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The structure of the epistemic regress
I just read this essay on coherentism, and it resonated with a question I have about reconciling foundationalism, coherentism, and infinitism. The gist of the essay is that there are graph-theoretic ...
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Defending the Unpopular: Foundationalism
Foundationalism, once considered a valid and popular philosophy, now receives nearly universal contempt. There seems to be a consensus, in both analytic and continental camps, it is dead.
Are there ...
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Question about the IEP’s (Michael Huemer’s) formulation of phenomenal conservatism
(I posted the identical question on the AskPhilosophy subreddit.)
I first learned about phenomenal conservatism under a different name, “the principle of credulity”, from the philosopher of religion ...
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What are the most rational basic beliefs?
I understand that this question might be difficult or even unresolved. But within a foundationalist view of knowledge, has anyone proposed a set of basic beliefs that seem to be the most rational for ...
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