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Single Idea 14794

[filed under theme 12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 3. Pragmatism ]

Full Idea

Your problems would be greatly simplified, if, instead of saying that you want to know the Truth, you were simply to say that you want to attain a state of belief unassailable beyond doubt.

Gist of Idea

Instead of seeking Truth, we should seek belief that is beyond doubt

Source

Charles Sanders Peirce (Essentials of Pragmatism [1905], I)

Book Ref

Peirce,Charles Sanders: 'Philosophical Writings of Peirce', ed/tr. Buchler,Justus [Dover 1940], p.257


A Reaction

This is not the same as saying that belief beyond doubt IS truth. He is merely offering a strategy for scientists to side-step the sort of scepticism raised by Descartes and radical empiricists.


The 3 ideas from 'Essentials of Pragmatism'

Instead of seeking Truth, we should seek belief that is beyond doubt [Peirce]
A 'conception', the rational implication of a word, lies in its bearing upon the conduct of life [Peirce]
The definition of a concept is just its experimental implications [Peirce]