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Vicious Regresses, Conceptual Analysis, and Strong Awareness Internalism
Author(s) -
Stoutenburg Gregory
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
ratio
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.475
H-Index - 29
eISSN - 1467-9329
pISSN - 0034-0006
DOI - 10.1111/rati.12087
Subject(s) - internalism and externalism , virtuous circle and vicious circle , argument (complex analysis) , epistemology , philosophy , economics , biochemistry , chemistry , macroeconomics
That a philosophical thesis entails a vicious regress is commonly taken to be decisive evidence that the thesis is false. In this paper, I argue that the existence of a vicious regress is insufficient to reject a proposed analysis provided that certain constraints on the analysis are met. When a vicious regress is present, some further consequence of the thesis must be established that, together with the presence of the vicious regress, shows the thesis to be false. The argument is provided largely through the examination of M ichael B ergmann's (2006) vicious regress argument against strong awareness internalism and a partial defense of that thesis against Bergmann.