ABSTRACT

This chapter contains a very brief introduction to coherentism, followed by an example. It is followed by a short discussion and then a series of questions. The example is an exercise in thought. For the foundationalist, justification is a matter of drilling down towards a base constituted by basic beliefs that do not, themselves, require further justification. One reason to find coherentism attractive is that it does seem to mirror the kind of epistemic practice. The questions discussed in the chapter are intended to get the philosophy students thinking about the problems. They have used these kinds of questions in seminars as the questions set for seminars, so they also think that they can be used to spark conversation and discussion. The chapter also gives a cursory sketch of some of the ways in which philosophers have responded to the thought experiment.