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Single Idea 19222

[filed under theme 14. Science / D. Explanation / 4. Explanation Doubts / b. Rejecting explanation ]

Full Idea

Men many times fancy that they act from reason, when the reasons they attribute to themselves are nothing but excuses which unconscious instinct invents to satisfy the teasing 'whys' of the ego.

Gist of Idea

Men often answer inner 'whys' by treating unconscious instincts as if they were reasons

Source

Charles Sanders Peirce (Reasoning and the Logic of Things [1898], I)

Book Ref

Peirce,Charles Sanders: 'Reasoning and the Logic of Things', ed/tr. Ketner,K.L. [Harvard 1992], p.111

A Reaction

A strikely modern thought, supported by a lot of modern neuro-science and psychology. It is crucial to realise that we don't have to accept the best explanation we can think of.

The 40 ideas from 'Reasoning and the Logic of Things'

19218 Metaphysics is pointless without exact modern logic [Peirce]
19229 Metaphysics is the science of both experience, and its general laws and types [Peirce]
19219 Metaphysical reasoning is simple enough, but the concepts are very hard [Peirce]
19231 Metaphysics is turning into logic, and logic is becoming mathematics [Peirce]
19228 Sciences concern existence, but philosophy also concerns potential existence [Peirce]
19227 Philosophy is a search for real truth [Peirce]
19226 We now know that mathematics only studies hypotheses, not facts [Peirce]
19223 We act on 'full belief' in a crisis, but 'opinion' only operates for trivial actions [Peirce]
19225 I classify science by level of abstraction; principles derive from above, and data from below [Peirce]
19224 Scientists will give up any conclusion, if experience opposes it [Peirce]
19222 Men often answer inner 'whys' by treating unconscious instincts as if they were reasons [Peirce]
19220 We may think animals reason very little, but they hardly ever make mistakes! [Peirce]
19230 People should follow what lies before them, and is within their power [Peirce]
19221 Everybody overrates their own reasoning, so it is clearly superficial [Peirce]
19233 Indexicals are unusual words, because they stimulate the hearer to look around [Peirce]
19232 In ordinary language a conditional statement assumes that the antecedent is true [Peirce]
19234 'Induction' doesn't capture Greek 'epagoge', which is singulars in a mass producing the general [Peirce]
19235 How does induction get started? [Peirce]
19236 Induction can never prove that laws have no exceptions [Peirce]
19242 Generalization is the true end of life [Peirce]
19238 The logic of relatives relies on objects built of any relations (rather than on classes) [Peirce]
19240 Realism is the belief that there is something in the being of things corresponding to our reasoning [Peirce]
19239 There may be no reality; it's just our one desperate hope of knowing anything [Peirce]
19241 An idea on its own isn't an idea, because they are continuous systems [Peirce]
19237 Deduction is true when the premises facts necessarily make the conclusion fact true [Peirce]
19247 The one unpardonable offence in reasoning is to block the route to further truth [Peirce]
19246 'Holding for true' is either practical commitment, or provisional theory [Peirce]
19245 We are not inspired by other people's knowledge; a sense of our ignorance motivates study [Peirce]
19244 Chemists rely on a single experiment to establish a fact; repetition is pointless [Peirce]
19243 If each inference slightly reduced our certainty, science would soon be in trouble [Peirce]
19251 The worst fallacy in induction is generalising one recondite property from a sample [Peirce]
19249 'Know yourself' is not introspection; it is grasping how others see you [Peirce]
19248 Reasoning involves observation, experiment, and habituation [Peirce]
19250 Everything interesting should be recorded, with records that can be rearranged [Peirce]
19252 Objective chance is the property of a distribution [Peirce]
19253 We talk of 'association by resemblance' but that is wrong: the association constitutes the resemblance [Peirce]
19254 Our laws of nature may be the result of evolution [Peirce]
19255 Generalisation is the great law of mind [Peirce]
19257 Whatever is First must be sentient [Peirce]
19256 Our research always hopes that reality embodies the logic we are employing [Peirce]