Category Archives: Method

Pragmatic Truth • 1

Questions about the pragmatic conception of truth have broken out in several quarters, asking in effect, “What conceptions of truth arise most naturally from and are best suited to pragmatic ways of thinking?”  My best thoughts on that score were … Continue reading

Posted in Aristotle, C.S. Peirce, Coherence, Concordance, Congruence, Consensus, Convergence, Correspondence, Dewey, Fixation of Belief, Information, Inquiry, John Dewey, Kant, Logic, Logic of Science, Method, Peirce, Philosophy, Pragmatic Maxim, Pragmatism, Semiotics, Sign Relations, Triadic Relations, Truth, Truth Theory, William James | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Pragmatic Maxim

The pragmatic maxim is a guideline for the practice of inquiry formulated by Charles Sanders Peirce. Serving as a normative recommendation or a regulative principle in the normative science of logic, its function is to guide the conduct of thought toward the achievement of its aims, advising the addressee on an optimal way of “attaining clearness of apprehension”. Continue reading

Posted in C.S. Peirce, Logic, Method, Peirce, Philosophy, Pragmatic Maxim, Pragmatism, References, Sources | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Mathematical Method • Discussion 7

Re: Ontolog Forum • Alex Shkotin Dear Alex, You raised the following point: AS: One important usage of a sign is as an element of a language, especially a formal one, i.e. with a formal grammar. For context you cited … Continue reading

Posted in Abstraction, C.S. Peirce, Essentialism, Hypostatic Abstraction, Logic, Mathematics, Metaphysics, Method, Nominalism, Ockham, Ockham's Razor, Peirce, Pragmatic Maxim, Pragmatism, Realism, Semiotics, Theory | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mathematical Method • Discussion 6

Re: Ontolog Forum • Alex Shkotin Dear Alex, Thanks for the very apt segue from Jon Barwise — Modern mathematics might be described as the science of abstract objects, be they real numbers, functions, surfaces, algebraic structures or whatever.  Mathematical … Continue reading

Posted in Abstraction, C.S. Peirce, Essentialism, Hypostatic Abstraction, Logic, Mathematics, Metaphysics, Method, Nominalism, Ockham, Ockham's Razor, Peirce, Pragmatic Maxim, Pragmatism, Realism, Semiotics, Theory | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mathematical Method • Discussion 5

Re: Ontolog Forum • Paul Tyson Dear Paul, “How We Think” is a topic for the descriptive science of psychology, and its ways are legion beyond definitive or exhaustive description. “How We Ought To Think” if we wish to succeed … Continue reading

Posted in Abstraction, C.S. Peirce, Essentialism, Hypostatic Abstraction, Logic, Mathematics, Metaphysics, Method, Nominalism, Ockham, Ockham's Razor, Peirce, Pragmatic Maxim, Pragmatism, Realism, Semiotics, Theory | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mathematical Method • Discussion 4

Re: Peirce List • Helmut Raulien Dear Helmut, It’s one of the occupational hazards of the classifying mind that one can start out consciously characterizing aspects of real situations and end up unwittingly thinking one’s gotten everything under the sun sorted … Continue reading

Posted in Abstraction, C.S. Peirce, Essentialism, Hypostatic Abstraction, Logic, Mathematics, Metaphysics, Method, Nominalism, Ockham, Ockham's Razor, Peirce, Pragmatic Maxim, Pragmatism, Realism, Semiotics, Theory | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mathematical Method • Discussion 3

Re: Peirce List • John Sowa • Auke van Breemen • Jon Awbrey • Gary Fuhrman Dear Gary, Auke van Breemen wrote: AvB: It seems to come down to:  never consider the textual production of a scientist only in itself, … Continue reading

Posted in Abstraction, C.S. Peirce, Essentialism, Hypostatic Abstraction, Logic, Mathematics, Metaphysics, Method, Nominalism, Ockham, Ockham's Razor, Peirce, Pragmatic Maxim, Pragmatism, Realism, Semiotics, Theory | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mathematical Method • Discussion 2

Re: Peirce List • Auke van Breemen AvB: It seems to come down to:  never consider the textual production of a scientist only in itself, but also look at the reality the text tries to explain. Dear Auke, Exactly! We … Continue reading

Posted in Abstraction, C.S. Peirce, Essentialism, Hypostatic Abstraction, Logic, Mathematics, Metaphysics, Method, Nominalism, Ockham, Ockham's Razor, Peirce, Pragmatic Maxim, Pragmatism, Realism, Semiotics, Theory | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Mathematical Method • Discussion 1

Re: Peirce List • John Sowa Dear John, Thanks for the notice of Carolyn Eisele’s article — it’s always worth reading what she has to say.  We’ve had discussions of Peirce’s distinction between theorematic and corollarial reasoning before and I … Continue reading

Posted in Abstraction, C.S. Peirce, Essentialism, Hypostatic Abstraction, Logic, Mathematics, Metaphysics, Method, Nominalism, Ockham, Ockham's Razor, Peirce, Pragmatic Maxim, Pragmatism, Realism, Semiotics, Theory | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pragmatic Truth • Discussion 24

Re: Peirce List • Edwina Taborsky Dear Edwina, I think I can get the drift of what you are saying.  At least, I can see there is something monadic about the Tenacity method of fixing belief or settling on what … Continue reading

Posted in Aristotle, C.S. Peirce, Coherence, Concordance, Congruence, Consensus, Convergence, Correspondence, Dewey, Fixation of Belief, Information, Inquiry, John Dewey, Kant, Logic, Logic of Science, Method, Peirce, Philosophy, Pragmatic Maxim, Pragmatism, Semiotics, Sign Relations, Triadic Relations, Truth, Truth Theory, William James | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments