Lakatos (1962) shows that the quest for certainty in mathematics leads inevitably to a vicious circle . Any mathematical system depends on a set of assumptions, and trying to establish their certainty by proving them, leads to an infinite regression. There is no way of discharging the assumptions. Without proof, the assumptions remain fallible beliefs, and not certain knowledge. All we can do is to minimize them, to get a reduced set of axioms, which we have to either accept without proof , thus breaking the vicious circle at the cost of the vicious circle . The reduced set of axioms can only be dispensed with by replacing it with assumptions of at least the same strength. Thus we cannot establish the certainty of mathematics without making assumptions, which thereby fails to be absolute certainty.