Expert: Steven R. Storch - 4/29/2009

Question
Hello Mr Steven. I've been reading your responses and I would like to get your opinion on something

Do you think anything is ultimately justified? I ask this because it seems that the problem of lnfinite regress applies to anything. If that be the case, then in reality nothing can be absolutely certain or substantiated.

I would really apreciate your opinion and thank you for your time.

Answer
Not sure what you mean by "justified."

What I think you are trying to get at is can we ultimately know anything to be true and not simply belief it true?

To that, the answer is yes.  There are many, many things that are known true.  The simplest being mathematical truths.  The truth of identity, that "two is two," being among the most fundamental.

How do we know these truths.  Some truths are easy to know and simply require "seeing that they are so."  It's called direct apprehension or direct intuition.

Other truths may be known more indirectly, a.k.a. derived truths.  They are true propositions that are implied by a known set of true propositions.  Theorems from geometry and arithmetic fall under this category.

There are other truths about nature that can also be observed directly, e.g., snow is white.  Or indirectly, like the laws of physics, astronomy, etc...

Storch