more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
A belief has just three properties: first, it is something that we are aware of; second, it appeases the irritation of doubt; and, third, it involves the establishment in our nature of a rule of action, or, say for short, a habit.
Gist of Idea
We are aware of beliefs, they appease our doubts, and they are rules of action, or habits
Source
Charles Sanders Peirce (How to Make our Ideas Clear [1878], p.28)
Book Ref
Peirce,Charles Sanders: 'Philosophical Writings of Peirce', ed/tr. Buchler,Justus [Dover 1940], p.28
A Reaction
Peirce probably believed that Bismarck breathed oxygen, but was unaware of his belief, and no one ever dreamed of acting on such a belief, unless Bismarck was gasping for air.
| 20868 | Two sorts of opinion: either poorly grounded belief, or weak belief [Stoic school, by Stobaeus] |
| 2207 | Belief can't be a concept plus an idea, or we could add the idea to fictions [Hume] |
| 2208 | Belief is just a particular feeling attached to ideas of objects [Hume] |
| 7660 | We are aware of beliefs, they appease our doubts, and they are rules of action, or habits [Peirce] |
| 5780 | The three questions about belief are its contents, its success, and its character [Russell] |
| 5426 | Belief relates a mind to several things other than itself [Russell] |
| 8806 | The concepts of belief and truth are linked, since beliefs are meant to fit reality [Davidson] |
| 12149 | Indexicals are a problem for beliefs being just subject-proposition relations [Perry] |
| 6171 | Beliefs are states of the head that explain behaviour, and also items with referential truth-conditions [McGinn] |
| 4266 | Having beliefs involves recognition, expectation and surprise [Scruton] |