Combining Texts

Ideas for 'fragments/reports', 'Criterion of Validity in Reasoning' and 'Ontological Dependence'

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2 ideas

2. Reason / A. Nature of Reason / 4. Aims of Reason
I reason in order to avoid disappointment and surprise [Peirce]
     Full Idea: I do not reason for the sake of my delight in reasoning, but solely to avoid disappointment and surprise.
     From: Charles Sanders Peirce (Criterion of Validity in Reasoning [1903], I)
     A reaction: Hence Peirce places more emphasis on inductive and abductive reasoning than on deductive reasoning. I have to agree with him. Anyone account of why we reason must have an evolutionary framework. What advantage does reason bestow? It concerns the future.
2. Reason / D. Definition / 4. Real Definition
Maybe two objects might require simultaneous real definitions, as with two simultaneous terms [Fine,K]
     Full Idea: In Wooster as the witless bachelor and Jeeves as the crafty manservant, and one valet to the other, we will have the counterpart, within the framework of real definition, to the simultaneous definition of two terms.
     From: Kit Fine (Ontological Dependence [1995], III)
     A reaction: This is wonderful grist to the mill of scientific essentialism, which endeavours to produce an understanding through explanation of the complex interactions of nature.