Coherentism
Also known as: coherentist, Coherentism in Epistemology, Coherentism
Facts (60)
Sources
Epistemology - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy plato.stanford.edu Dec 14, 2005 12 facts
claimCoherentism is typically defended by attacking foundationalism as a viable alternative, specifically by arguing that no beliefs or too few beliefs enjoy the epistemic privilege essential to foundationalism.
perspectiveCoherentists argue that if a belief system contains beliefs such as 'Many of my beliefs have their origin in perceptual experiences' and 'My perceptual experiences are reliable', it is reasonable for the subject to think that their belief system brings them into contact with external reality.
claimThe 'compromise position' in epistemology is characterized by four features: it allows for doxastic basicality; it does not allow for epistemic basicality; it is inconsistent with doxastic coherentism; and it qualifies as a version of coherentism known as dependence coherentism.
claimA prominent objection to coherentism is that it fails to ensure that a justified belief system is in contact with reality, a critique derived from the fact that fiction can be perfectly coherent.
claimCoherentism characterizes knowledge and justification as a structure resembling a web, where the strength of any specific area depends on the strength of the surrounding areas.
claimExperiential foundationalism is a theory in epistemology that posits perceptual experiences as a source of justification, which coherentists challenge by asking why perceptual experiences serve this function (the J-question).
claimAccording to the coherentist view of epistemology, perceptual experiences serve as a source of justification only if the individual has considered the matter and believes those experiences to be reliable.
claimTypical coherentism, as construed by its advocates, requires that for a given belief to be justified, the subject must have certain further beliefs that constitute reasons for that given belief.
claimThe 'compromise position' in epistemology attempts to bridge foundationalism and coherentism by arguing that perceptual experiences are a source of justification because a subject has justification for taking those experiences to be reliable, without requiring the subject to hold a belief that attributes reliability to those experiences.
claimThe conflict between foundationalism and coherentism is fundamentally a conflict between dependence coherentism and independence foundationalism.
claimPhilosophers who support the use of intuition and a priori reasoning for moral knowledge debate whether the resulting justification is coherentist or foundationalist.
claimCoherentism denies the existence of basic beliefs, construing the theory either as the denial of doxastic basicality or the denial of epistemic basicality.
Epistemic Justification – Introduction to Philosophy: Epistemology press.rebus.community 10 facts
claimCoherentists conceptualize the structure of justified beliefs as a spider web where nodes are mutually supported by the whole structure, rather than a pyramid supported by a foundation.
claimExplanationists argue that their theory avoids the problems associated with standard foundationalism and pure coherentism while incorporating the attractive features of both.
claimCoherentism is the view that justification has a weblike structure such that any justified belief is justified by coherence relations it bears to the person’s entire set of beliefs.
claimNotable approaches to explaining the epistemic standard include evidentialism, strong/modest foundationalism, coherentism, explanationism, infinitism, virtue responsibilism, virtue reliabilism, process reliabilism, and proper functionalism.
claimAccording to one prominent coherentist view, a belief is justified for a person if adding that proposition to their existing set of beliefs increases the overall coherence value of their belief system.
claimCoherentists propose that factors such as logical consistency, probabilistic connections, or the absence of unconnected subsystems contribute to the coherence of a belief system.
claimInfinitism is a theory of justification that posits that the structure of justification is neither foundationalist nor coherentist, but rather consists of an infinite number of appropriately structured, available reasons upon which a justified belief rests.
claimCoherentists argue that a coherent system of beliefs does not require defective circular reasoning to be justified.
claimUnlike pure coherentism, explanationism incorporates experiences into the constitution of justification, allowing experiences to serve as foundations that stop a regress of justification.
referencePeter Murphy authored the entry 'Coherentism in Epistemology' for The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Epistemology | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy iep.utm.edu 9 facts
claimThe isolation objection to coherentism uses the example of a work of fiction, where a set of statements may be coherent, but believing those statements does not render a person justified.
claimCoherentism views justification as a relation of mutual support among many beliefs, rather than a series of asymmetrical beliefs.
claimCoherentism requires that coherence be defined as more than logical consistency, necessitating a positive support relationship, such as an explanatory relationship, between members of a belief set for the beliefs to be individually justified.
referenceSusan Haack's 'A Foundherentist Theory of Empirical Justification' attempts to combine coherentism and foundationalism into an internalist account of justification that she argues is superior to either theory alone.
claimCoherentism defines justification as a holistic relationship among beliefs, where a belief derives its justification by being included in a set of beliefs that cohere with one another as a whole.
claimAccording to coherentism, a belief derives its justification from its membership in a set of beliefs that fit together in the right way, rather than by being based on one or more other beliefs.
referenceKeith Lehrer's 2000 book 'Theory of Knowledge (2nd ed.)' provides a defense of coherentism and contains the 'Truetemp' example.
claimThe 'isolation objection' against coherentism argues that a set of beliefs can be coherent while remaining entirely isolated from reality.
referenceLaurence BonJour published 'The Structure of Empirical Knowledge' in 1985, which provides a defense of coherentism.
What Is Epistemology? Pt. 3: The Nature of Justification and Belief philosimplicity.com Oct 23, 2017 8 facts
claimFoundherentism is an epistemological theory that attempts to reconcile foundationalism and coherentism by combining a set of beliefs that have an externally established foundation with internal relationships between those beliefs.
perspectiveCoherentists argue that it is unclear how one can identify a foundational basic belief without relying on an unjustified assumption.
perspectiveSusan Haack argues that foundationalism is prone to arbitrariness, while coherentism is prone to circularity.
claimCoherentism and foundationalism are rival theories in modern epistemology, and both aim to address the problem of infinite regress.
claimFoundationalism and coherentism in epistemology focus on the structure of justification and belief.
claimCoherentism is an epistemological theory that evaluates the validity of a belief or justification based on how well it relates to and validates other beliefs and justifications.
claimCoherentism is structured as a non-hierarchical mesh where beliefs and justifications support one another equally through mutual affirmation.
claimInfinitism is an epistemological theory that accepts the idea that all justifications require further justifications, effectively rejecting the infinite regress constraints of both coherentism and foundationalism.
Virtue Epistemology | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy iep.utm.edu 6 facts
claimErnest Sosa attempts to resolve the conflict between foundationalism and coherentism by proposing an externalist version of foundationalism.
claimIn his 1980 paper "The Raft and the Pyramid," Ernest Sosa argued that an appeal to intellectual virtue could resolve the conflict between foundationalists and coherentists regarding the structure of epistemic justification.
claimErnest Sosa's initial appeal to intellectual virtue in his essay “The Raft and the Pyramid” was intended to resolve the dispute between foundationalism and coherentism regarding the structure of epistemic justification.
claimCoherentists characterize the logical structure of reasons for belief in terms of doxastic coherence relations, whereas foundationalists characterize it in terms of relations between foundational beliefs and the beliefs they support.
claimCoherentists and foundationalists generally agree that justification for believing a claim requires having a good reason for thinking that the claim is true, but they disagree on the logical structure of that reason.
claimErnest Sosa argues that coherentism is flawed because it fails to give adequate epistemic weight to experience, as a belief can cohere with one's other beliefs while conflicting with one's experience.
Virtue epistemology - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org 5 facts
claimErnest Sosa argued that appealing to intellectual virtue could resolve the conflict between foundationalists and coherentists regarding the structure of epistemic justification.
claimEdmund Gettier developed counterexamples to the traditional account of knowledge as justified true belief in 1963, which prompted the development of competing theories like coherentism and foundationalism.
claimCoherentism struggles to accommodate the importance of perceptual information because perceptual beliefs may lack sufficient logical ties to other beliefs within a system.
claimErnest Sosa suggested in a paper that virtue might resolve the intractable disputes between coherentists and foundationalists.
claimCoherentism is an epistemological theory that uses the metaphor of a raft, where all beliefs are interconnected due to logical relationships rather than being tied down by foundations.
Virtue Epistemology, Anyone? - The Philosophers' Magazine - philosophersmag.com 4 facts
claimCoherentism faces the critique that internal coherence does not guarantee truth, because there are infinite internally coherent scenarios, only one of which corresponds to the actual world.
claimCoherentism maintains that truth is arrived at through the interdependence of a 'web of beliefs,' a concept attributed to W.V.O. Quine.
perspectiveVirtue epistemology is not mutually exclusive with foundationalism or coherentism, but rather offers a different perspective on debates regarding the nature and security of knowledge.
claimVirtue epistemology differs from foundationalism and coherentism by beginning with the notion of personal intellectual virtue to build a normative account of beliefs, whereas the other two focus on the properties of beliefs themselves.
Epistemology - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org 3 facts
claimCoherentism rejects the distinction between basic and non-basic beliefs, asserting that the justification of any belief depends on other beliefs.
referenceRobert Audi published 'Foundationalism, Coherentism, and Epistemological Dogmatism' in the journal Philosophical Perspectives in 1988.
claimFoundherentism is an intermediary position that combines elements of foundationalism and coherentism by accepting the distinction between basic and non-basic beliefs while asserting that the justification of non-basic beliefs depends on coherence with other beliefs.
Virtue epistemology - Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy rep.routledge.com 1 fact
perspectiveProponents of virtue epistemology claim that it offers advantages such as bypassing disputes between foundationalists and coherentists regarding cognitive structure, avoiding skeptical worries, avoiding the impasse between internalism and externalism, and broadening the range of epistemological inquiry to include values like understanding and wisdom.
Epistemology (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy/Fall 2019 Edition) plato.stanford.edu Dec 14, 2005 1 fact
claimCoherentism asserts that for perceptual experiences to serve as a source of justification, an individual must have considered the matter and formed the belief that those experiences are reliable.
Virtue Epistemology - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy plato.stanford.edu Jul 9, 1999 1 fact
claimErnest Sosa applied his 'virtue perspectivism' to resolve disputes in contemporary epistemology, including debates between foundationalists and coherentists, and between internalists and externalists.