Single Idea 21499

[catalogued under 13. Knowledge Criteria / B. Internal Justification / 5. Coherentism / c. Coherentism critique]

Full Idea

An enquirer who is fortunate enough to have at his or her disposal fully reliable information sources has no use for coherence, the need for which arises only in the context of less than fully reliable informations sources.

Gist of Idea

Coherence is only needed if the information sources are not fully reliable

Source

Erik J. Olsson (Against Coherence [2005], 2.6.2)

Book Reference

Olsson,Erik J.: 'Against Coherence' [OUP 2008], p.30


A Reaction

I take this to be entirely false. How do you assess reliability? 'I've seen it with my own eyes'. Why trust your eyes? In what visibility conditions do you begin to doubt your eyes? Why do rational people mistrust their intuitions?