Chapter 34: Justification as Gluing

Justification is not a chain of reasons but the satisfaction of gluing constraints on local observations. This chapter develops the sheaf-theoretic epistemology launched in the relevant chapter along four axes. First, justification is defined as the gluing condition itself: local data cohere on overlaps. Second, the force of the better argument (Habermas) is identified with the section that glues over the finest cover. Third, underdetermination (Quine–Duhem) is shown to be a structural feature of coarse covers, not a defect of knowledge. Fourth, coherentism and foundationalism are recovered as special cases of the sheaf condition, and Agrippa’s trilemma is dissolved: no regress arises because gluing is checked on finitely many overlaps, not along infinite chains.