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Full Idea
Any coherent set of beliefs can be made more coherent by adding to it one or more false beliefs.
Gist of Idea
Any coherent set of beliefs can be made more coherent by adding some false beliefs
Source
Pascal Engel (Truth [2002], §1.3)
Book Ref
Engel,Pascal: 'Truth' [Acumen 2002], p.27
A Reaction
A simple but rather devastating point. It is the policeman manufacturing a bogus piece of evidence to clinch the conviction, the scientist faking a single observation to fill in the last corner of a promising theory.
| 5423 | If we suspend the law of contradiction, nothing will appear to be incoherent [Russell] |
| 5424 | Coherence is not the meaning of truth, but an important test for truth [Russell] |
| 5422 | More than one coherent body of beliefs seems possible [Russell] |
| 2766 | Even with a tight account of coherence, there is always the possibility of more than one set of coherent propositions [Dancy,J] |
| 6083 | The coherence theory of truth implies idealism, because facts are just coherent beliefs [McGinn] |
| 4745 | Any coherent set of beliefs can be made more coherent by adding some false beliefs [Engel] |
| 15334 | The coherence theory allows multiple coherent wholes, which could contradict one another [Horsten] |
| 19083 | How do you identify the best coherence set; and aren't there truths which don't cohere? [Young,JO] |