60 | fragments/reports |
p.412 | 1812 | All discussion is full of uncertainty and contradiction (Mode 11) | |
Full Idea: Eleventh mode: all topics of discussion are full of uncertainty and contradiction. | |||
From: report of Agrippa (fragments/reports [c.60]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 09.Py.10 |
p.412 | 1813 | All reasoning endlessly leads to further reasoning (Mode 12) | |
Full Idea: Twelfth mode: all reasoning leads on to further reasoning, and this process goes on forever. | |||
From: report of Agrippa (fragments/reports [c.60]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 09.Py.10 |
p.413 | 1814 | Everything is perceived in relation to another thing (Mode 13) | |
Full Idea: Thirteenth mode: everything is always perceived in relation to something else. | |||
From: report of Agrippa (fragments/reports [c.60]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 09.Py.10 |
p.413 | 1811 | Proofs often presuppose the thing to be proved (Mode 15) | |
Full Idea: Fifteenth mode: proofs often presuppose the thing to be proved. | |||
From: report of Agrippa (fragments/reports [c.60]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 09.Py.10 |
p.413 | 1815 | Reasoning needs arbitrary faith in preliminary hypotheses (Mode 14) | |
Full Idea: Fourteenth mode: reasoning requires arbitrary faith in preliminary hypotheses. | |||
From: report of Agrippa (fragments/reports [c.60]) by Diogenes Laertius - Lives of Eminent Philosophers 09.Py.10 |
§2 | p.205 | 8850 | Agrippa's Trilemma: justification is infinite, or ends arbitrarily, or is circular |
Full Idea: Agrippa's Trilemma offers three possible outcomes for a regress of justification: the chain goes on for ever (infinite); or the chain stops at an unjustified proposition (arbitrary); or the chain eventually includes the original proposition (circular). | |||
From: report of Agrippa (fragments/reports [c.60], §2) by Michael Williams - Without Immediate Justification §2 | |||
A reaction: This summarises Ideas 1911, 1913 and 1914. Agrippa's Trilemma is now a standard starting point for modern discussions of foundations. Personally I reject 2, and am torn between 1 (+ social consensus) and 3 (with a benign, coherent circle). |