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Questions tagged [foundationalism]

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2 votes
3 answers
117 views

Does set-theoretic pluralism, about axiom systems, inevitably become an invitation to non-axiomatic systems of set theory?

Per Hamkins[[11][12]] (see also his [22]), if no individual axiom is too sacred to be denied in some possible world,Q and so if no collection of such axioms is so sacred either, yet then: The ...
4 votes
4 answers
749 views

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 ...
3 votes
2 answers
169 views

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 ...
2 votes
3 answers
597 views

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 ...
1 vote
0 answers
41 views

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 ...
5 votes
2 answers
203 views

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 ...
1 vote
2 answers
109 views

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 ...
2 votes
1 answer
168 views

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 ...
10 votes
6 answers
6k views

Is the Münchhausen trilemma really a trilemma?

It claims there are three options of which none of them are satisfying. Circular argument doesn't prove anything because it's just when the premise is the same as the conclusion. x ∵ x Infinite ...
3 votes
3 answers
98 views

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?
0 votes
0 answers
65 views

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 ...
1 vote
2 answers
152 views

Are universal skepticism and foundationalism at odds?

As I understand it, universal skepticism says that everything is uncertain. For example, you can't even say that you are sure that 1=1 because it depends upon your notion of equality. There are no ...
2 votes
1 answer
148 views

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 ...
4 votes
5 answers
613 views

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 ...
1 vote
1 answer
208 views

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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