Ryle's regress

Ryle's regress, named after the philosopher Gilbert Ryle, refers to a philosophical problem concerning the nature of mental states and how we explain them. It specifically addresses the issue of "explanation" in the context of someone's behavior and their mental processes. The regress arises when we try to explain a particular behavior by citing a mental state, and then we might ask what explains that mental state, leading us to cite another mental state, and so on.