Conclusion: It is important for us to know how to make our ideas clear, by first knowing what is meant by "clear" and by understanding how a certain idea or conception has come to be. The natural challenges we as humans face in attempting to find the answers to those questions (due to the way our minds work, challenges with language etc.), many times if not all, lead us to false comceptions of clarity in beliefs.
"It is certainly important to know hot make our ideas clear, but they may ever be so clear without being true. How to make them so, we have have next to study. How to give birth to ...is an art not yet reduced to rules, but of the secret of which history of science affords some hints." (41)
Premises
1) The definitions currently used for the words "clear" and "distinct" are incorrect.
A) Logicians describe ideas or conceptions as clear and distinct. These descriptions themselves need clarification. (23)
B) The use of these terms (clear, distinct) to describe ideas are "old school" and should be done away with. (24)
C) Logic should help us learn how to make our ideas clear. (25)
2) Thought Produces Belief
A) Doubt and hesitancy stimulate the mind. "Most Frequently doubts arise from some indecision, however momentary, in our action." (27)
3)There are 2 elements of consciousness, mediate and immediate. (27)
4) Belief is a rule for action. Belief has three properties. (28)
A) "First it is something we are aware of..."
B) "Second it appeases the irritation of doubt..."
C) "And third it establishes in our nature of a habit"
5) Belief is a "stopping place" and "starting place" for thought. (29)
6) "The essence of belief is the establishment of a habit, and different beliefs are distinguished by the different modes of actions by which they give rise." (29)
7) It is important to distinguish truth from false belief. (37)
8) It's possible for our ideas to be clear without actually being true. (41)
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ReplyDeleteIf belief A and belief B have the exact same sensible results, then they are the same belief. The meaning and the experience of a belief are the same. If A and B produce the same habits, then they have the same sensible results, and then they have the same meaning. Thus, A and b are identical.
ReplyDeleteReality does not depend on what we think it is. Our minds cannot determine how the world is. The world is independent of itself. We are only creating a beliefs system for ourselves and our beliefs do not correspond to the world. How can we get to know reality or the truth? It is very similar to thing-in-itself. We know that it is there, but we cannot know them. How to define the term "know" becomes a problem? Peirce uses these terms with different meaning. Why did he have to make these terms harder to comprehend?