Full Idea
It is necessary that a method should be found by which our beliefs be determined by nothing human, but by some external permanency - by something upon which our thinking has no effect.
Gist of Idea
We need our beliefs to be determined by some external inhuman permanency
Source
Charles Sanders Peirce (The Fixation of Belief [1877]), quoted by Robert Fogelin - Walking the Tightrope of Reason Ch.5
Book Reference
Fogelin,Robert: 'Walking the Tightrope of Reason' [OUP 2004], p.126
A Reaction
This very sensible and interesting remark hovers somewhere between empiricism and pragmatism. Fogelin very persuasively builds his account of knowledge on it. The key point is that we hardly ever choose what to believe. See Idea 2454.
Related Idea
Idea 2454 We can deliberately cause ourselves to have true thoughts - hence the value of experiments [Fodor]