First, it might go in a circle: A is true because B, and B is true because A. (The circle might be widened by lots of intermediate explanatory truths: A because B, B because C, … Y because Z, Z because A.) But a circular explanation is no good. Saying “A because B because A” is a roundabout way of saying “A because A.” And no truth explains itself. Second, the explanatory chain might go on forever: A1 is true because A2, A2 is true because A3, A3 is true because A4, and so on, to infinity. But that’s no good either. Such an endless regress, Aristotle observed, supplies no ultimate explanatory
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