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Full Idea
Unlike Descartes, who held an atomist theory of belief (that we can assent to a belief quite independently of our other beliefs), Spinoza endorsed a holistic theory of belief - that our degree of affirmation is essentially determined by our other ideas.
Gist of Idea
Unlike Descartes' atomism, Spinoza held a holistic view of belief
Source
report of Baruch de Spinoza (The Ethics [1675], II Pr 49S) by Stephan Schmid - Faculties in Early Modern Philosophy 3
Book Ref
'The Faculties: a history', ed/tr. Perler,Dominic [OUP 2015], p.166
A Reaction
Since I am a fan of the coherence theory of justification, I seem obligated to accept a fairly holistic account of the acceptance of beliefs. Descartes is a foundationalist.
| 21801 | Unlike Descartes' atomism, Spinoza held a holistic view of belief [Spinoza, by Schmid] |
| 18969 | How do you distinguish three beliefs from four beliefs or two beliefs? [Quine] |
| 6397 | The concept of belief can only derive from relationship to a speech community [Davidson] |
| 8867 | A belief requires understanding the distinctions of true-and-false, and appearance-and-reality [Davidson] |
| 3491 | Beliefs are part of a network, and also exist against a background [Searle] |
| 3490 | Beliefs only make sense as part of a network of other beliefs [Searle] |
| 3100 | You have to reaffirm all your beliefs when you make a logical inference [Harman] |
| 2502 | How do you count beliefs? [Fodor] |
| 2735 | Could you have a single belief on its own? [Audi,R] |