ABSTRACT
Holism is the position according to which one cannot properly conceive of just one isolated inquirer. Social holism and cognitive holism are complementary notions. This chapter aims to formulate an argument justifying social holism in a way that is more cogent than the intuitive suggestions. It shows that the conceiving of one inquirer's beliefs necessitates the conceiving of that inquirer as being together with others. The chapter consists in defending social holism from possible problems arising when talking of group belief. Groups are collective objects described and analysed in the social sciences. The chapter describes a dilemma that faces anyone who accepts the social holism thesis. A possible way of arguing for social holism was to show that the sense of the words used by an inquirer to express his or her beliefs must bring in the entire community of inquirers in which those words are used successfully.
