The Fixation of Belief

belief, Darwin, doubt, inquiry, scientific method

Originally published in the Popular Science Monthly, vol. 12 (November 1877): 1-15. This is the first installment of six papers in Peirce's "Illustrations of the Logic of Science" series.

According to Houser and Kloesel (Eds.), The Essential Peirce, vol. 1 (Bloomington: Indiana, 1992), p. 108, "the objective of the 'Illustrations' is 'to describe the method of scientific investigation'." In this, the first paper, "he develops his thesis that thought is a form of inquiry, and belief the cessation of doubt, and he emphasizes the self-corrective nature of the scientific enterprise. He further discusses four methods of fixing belief (those of tenacity and of authority, the a priori method, and the method of science) and argues that only the fourth, which along appeals to an 'external permanency,' can lead to success in the long run."

Peirce, Charles Sanders (1839-1914)

Popular Science Monthly, vol. 12 (November 1877): 1-15

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1877-11

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