Epistemic infinitism

Tim Oakley (La Trobe University)

Epistemic infinitism is a theory of the structure of our systems of justified beliefs. Rejecting foundationalism and coherentism, infinitists claim that  the justification of a proposition may derive from its heading an infinitely long chain of reasons, each member of which provides justification for its successor. Long dismissed as untenable (if not mad), infinitism has recently been vigorously championed in a series of articles by Peter Klein of Rutgers University. This paper examines infinitism, and several of the main objections to the theory, particularly taking note of distinctions between different kinds of justification (including the doxastic/propositional distinction). My conclusion is that while some of the objections to infinitism have been ineffective, the dismissal of the theory by the majority of epistemologists has been entirely correct.