Confirmation holism

Confirmation holism is a philosophical concept primarily associated with the work of W.V.O. Quine, which suggests that our beliefs and hypotheses cannot be confirmed or disconfirmed in isolation; rather, they are part of a larger web of interconnected beliefs. According to confirmation holism, the confirmation of individual statements or hypotheses depends on their relationship with a broader set of beliefs and theories. In traditional scientific philosophy, it is often assumed that a single hypothesis can be tested independently.