Response To Bonjour's Argument

Bonjour considers two responses to his argument, externalism and givenism. I would be talking about Bonjours views and arguments on externalism and giving his thoughts and view on the topic. I would also be concerning his counter argument and explaining his views on it and why he disagrees with it. I also would be going over his foundationalist view and some of his thoughts on it. I also would be going over his regress argument. Bonjour thinks that there are two different responses for his argument, externalism and givenism.
Bonjour aims to show that basic beliefs are impossible and therefore foundationalism should be rejected. He thinks that there must be some basic belief B which entails that it is likely to be true and independent of any inference from any beliefs other than the one he stated. He argues that in the case of B being an empirical belief then we can accept the two premises because of priori. Therefore, B cannot be justified …show more content…
The regress of justification is a finite one. It has a justification of a given belief ending in one or many beliefs that are justified. Another possibility is that the regress of justification is infinite. Every infinitely justified belief is justified on the basis of one or more beliefs that are also justified. Third possibility is that even inferentially justified belief is justified on the basis of one or many beliefs that are also inferentially justified. There is no infinite regress in this possibility since any amount of justified beliefs contain only a limited number of beliefs which always go back to one another as the circle of justification continues. The last possible solution would be that the regress of justification would be finite and none of them ever go back to the starting point. The regress does not end without believing in justified beliefs but mostly ends when beliefs are not