Does everything need a foundation?

Turtles all the way down

Does everything need a foundation?

Imagine stacking cups. Each cup rests on top of another. To stop the stack, you need a cup that doesn't need anything underneath it.

The idea is that some things need a foundation to exist, but not everything does. In metaphysics, this is called the regress argument.

Example

The bottom cup doesn't need anything underneath it, just like some things don't need a cause.

Remember this

Some things exist independently, without needing a cause. This is the core idea behind the regress argument.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Related concepts

Cosmological argument

Universe's existence requires a First Cause

Nominalism

Nominalism claims only particular things exist, universals are just names

Problem of universals

Universals question independent existence

Principle of sufficient reason

Every contingent fact has a sufficient reason

Gettier problem

Can we truly know something if luck plays a role in the truth we believe?

logical positivism collapsed

Can a philosophy prove itself scientifically?

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