Dissertation Abstract
Peirce on inquiry and truth
by
Thomas Edward Keith
Degree: Ph.D.
Year: 2001
Pages: 169
Institution: The
Advisor: John Roth
Source: DAI, 62, no. 05A (2001): p. 1860
Standard No: ISBN: 0-493-26211-3
American
pragmatism began with the work of Charles Sanders Peirce. A recurring theme of
pragmatism is the view that truth is connected to experience and inquiry. The
purpose of this dissertation is to both expose and defend some of the views of
Charles Peirce on the subject of truth. Peirce does not define truth, but
instead offers the view that true claims are those that would not meet contrary
evidence at the end of an indefinitely prolonged, hypothetical inquiry. At this
hypothetical end of inquiry, a community of inquirers would reach a consensus
about the truth of the claim. I argue, however, that Peirce's end of inquiry
scenario is not to be taken literally, but is meant to serve as a regulative
assumption in science. What we are left with is the view that a true belief is
a justified belief, but that all beliefs are subject to the possibility that
they are false. As such, Peirce rejects absolutism, meaning that we can never know
whether our beliefs are forever settled. At the same time, Peirce argues that
the methods of science are better in the establishment of belief than any rival
methods. This is due to the fact that scientific methods employ experience and
reason in tandem as a way of subjecting hypotheses to the highest possible
level of rigorous scrutiny. In this way, we have the ability to check our
hypotheses against the available evidence so that we can make sense out of the
notion of progress, without also committing to the view that we are destined to
reach an absolute end of inquiry. I argue that Peirce's form of pragmatism
avoids both transcendentalist versions of correspondence accounts and purely
coherentist accounts of truth. In the end, Peirce carves out a niche in his
views on truth that is unique and defensible.
SUBJECT(S)
Descriptor: PHILOSOPHY
Accession No: AAI3015953
Provider: OCLC
Database: Dissertations