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Coherentism

Olsson, Erik J LU (2022) In Elements in Epistemology
Abstract
Perhaps the most fundamental question of epistemology asks on what grounds our knowledge of the world ultimately rests. The traditional Cartesian answer is that it rests on indubitable facts arrived at through rational insight or introspection. Coherentists reject this answer, claiming instead that knowledge arises from relations of coherence or mutual support: if our beliefs cohere, we can be sure that they are mostly true. The first part of this Element introduces the reader to the main ideas and problems of coherentism. The next part describes the 'probabilistic turn', leading up to recent demonstrations that coherence fails to be conducive to truth. The final part reassesses the current debate about the proper definition of coherence... (More)
Perhaps the most fundamental question of epistemology asks on what grounds our knowledge of the world ultimately rests. The traditional Cartesian answer is that it rests on indubitable facts arrived at through rational insight or introspection. Coherentists reject this answer, claiming instead that knowledge arises from relations of coherence or mutual support: if our beliefs cohere, we can be sure that they are mostly true. The first part of this Element introduces the reader to the main ideas and problems of coherentism. The next part describes the 'probabilistic turn', leading up to recent demonstrations that coherence fails to be conducive to truth. The final part reassesses the current debate about the proper definition of coherence from the standpoint of Rudolf Carnap's methodology of explication. The upshot is a tentative and qualified defence of one of the early coherence measures. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Book/Report
publication status
epub
subject
keywords
coherentism, coherence theory, epistemology, knowledge, probability
in
Elements in Epistemology
pages
72 pages
publisher
Cambridge University Press
ISSN
2514-3832
2398-0567
ISBN
9781009053327
9781009055123
DOI
10.1017/9781009053327
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ebf56ab8-1517-43dd-b766-af21f0554707
date added to LUP
2022-05-27 08:59:03
date last changed
2022-08-30 11:41:55
@book{ebf56ab8-1517-43dd-b766-af21f0554707,
  abstract     = {{Perhaps the most fundamental question of epistemology asks on what grounds our knowledge of the world ultimately rests. The traditional Cartesian answer is that it rests on indubitable facts arrived at through rational insight or introspection. Coherentists reject this answer, claiming instead that knowledge arises from relations of coherence or mutual support: if our beliefs cohere, we can be sure that they are mostly true. The first part of this Element introduces the reader to the main ideas and problems of coherentism. The next part describes the 'probabilistic turn', leading up to recent demonstrations that coherence fails to be conducive to truth. The final part reassesses the current debate about the proper definition of coherence from the standpoint of Rudolf Carnap's methodology of explication. The upshot is a tentative and qualified defence of one of the early coherence measures.}},
  author       = {{Olsson, Erik J}},
  isbn         = {{9781009053327}},
  issn         = {{2514-3832}},
  keywords     = {{coherentism; coherence theory; epistemology; knowledge; probability}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{08}},
  publisher    = {{Cambridge University Press}},
  series       = {{Elements in Epistemology}},
  title        = {{Coherentism}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/9781009053327}},
  doi          = {{10.1017/9781009053327}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}