coherentism.

The view that beliefs are justified by how well they fit together in a mutually supporting system.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• epistemic coherentism
• defend coherentism
• objections to coherentism

On the page

The seminar contrasted coherentism with theories that rely on independently justified basic beliefs.

Usage notes

Primary category: academic / formal / analytical. Lexical Type: Word. Forms: Usually uncountable; no ordinary plural in this sense. Commonness: uncommon (editorial estimate; not a corpus frequency statistic). Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1; numbered fields keep each relevant meaning separate. Research distinction: SEP verifies justification through coherence among beliefs and distinguishes a coherence theory of truth. Mutual support is not simply logical consistency. Writing functions: analysis, conceptual distinction.