Question

Is there any such thing as justification for believing in any statement X that doesn’t lead to infinite regress? For any statement X, it seems as if you can keep asking why you should or not believe it ad infinitum until you reach an axiom that you cannot seem to prove. How does one then know whether a belief is justified or not given this?

Answer 1

Justification in beliefs can lead to an infinite regress, but the foundationalist perspective suggests that there are foundational beliefs that serve as the basis for all other beliefs.

Step-by-step explanation:

Justification in beliefs is a complex topic in philosophy. In the quest for justification, we often find ourselves in a chain of reasoning where one belief justifies another.

However, this can lead to an infinite regress, where we keep asking for further justifications. The foundationalist perspective asserts that there must be some foundational beliefs that are justified non-inferentially and serve as the basis for all other beliefs.

These foundational beliefs are where the chain of justification stops. While not all beliefs follow this linear structure, foundationalism provides a framework for understanding the basis of justification.