coherentist

Coherentism is a theory in epistemology and the philosophy of justification (and, in some versions, truth) according to which a belief is justified if it fits coherently within a larger system of beliefs. Rather than appealing to foundational axioms or self-evident starting points, coherentists hold that justification depends on the degree to which a belief coheres with other beliefs, principles, and background information. Coherence is typically understood in terms of mutual support, consistency, explanatory power, and integration with empirical data and theoretical virtues.

In its practice, coherentism can be internal, focusing on what a subject has reason to endorse given their entire mental state, or external, allowing that a belief may gain justification by its place in a network that includes socially shared or objectively constrained theories. Some coherentist approaches are holistic, treating the entire system as a unity whose parts must reciprocally bear on one another, while others emphasize strong coherence relations between a central thesis and the rest of the system. Coherentism is often contrasted with foundationalism, which locates justification in basic beliefs.

Prominent defenders include Laurence BonJour, who argues that justification arises from the internal coherence of a believer’s system, and Keith Lehrer, who emphasizes the global coherence across a network of beliefs. Critics raise concerns about circularity, the risk that coherence merely reflects an arbitrary or true-belief-friendly system, and the possibility that many false belief systems could be highly coherent. They also point to the challenge of explaining why coherence corresponds to truth, or how to adjudicate among competing coherent systems when they conflict.

See also: foundationalism; coherence theory of truth; internalism; externalism; virtue epistemology.