Intended to demonstrate the theoretical impossibility of proving any truth, even in the fields of logic and mathematics, without appealing to accepted assumptions.
States that providing a rigorous, absolute justification for any knowledge claim is impossible, as every attempt inevitably fails by falling into one of three flaws: infinite regress, circular reasoning, or dogmatic assertion.
Every argument bottoms out in one of three ways:
- Infinite regress - justifications go on forever (not useful)
- Circularity - the system justifies itself (logically suspect)
- Axioms - you stop at some point and say “this is just assumed”
Almost all formal systems take option 3.