[peirce-l] Re: What "fundamental psychological laws" is Peirce referring to?

[Jim Piat]

Dear Folks,   I notice that Peirces lst three methods of fixing believe are part of the fourth or scientific method. Science is basically a method that gathers multiple beliefs and combines them with reason to produce warranted belief.  Individual belief (without resort to any authority other than oneself) is the method of tenacity  -- I belief X because it is believable to me.  When individual beliefs are combined the authority of others is introduced as a basis for belief.  When these multiple beliefs (or one's individual beliefs)  are combined in some reasonsed or logical way (for example taking their average) then one has has achieved the a priori or method of taste.  Finally if one bases all beliefs not merely on unexamined conviction but instead relies on observation of events -- and combines multiple such observational beliefs in a reasoned way, the method of science has been achieved.    In other words the three issues being juggled as a basis for belief are (1) single vs multiple beliefs (2) observation vs spontaneous conviction (3) reasoned vs unreasoned combining of beliefs.    I haven't said this well but what I'm trying to get at is that the scientific method relies on multiple observation combined in a reasoned way.  And this method incorporates all the essential aspect of each of the three prior methods.  Science rests ultimately on combined unwarranted beliefs of individuals.  At some point there must be an observation taken as face valid and this is the core of the individual observation.  We know however that individual observations are inadequate because they only include one POV.  So we combine multiple individual observations.  I say observation,  but the term observation is just a way of directing individual beliefs to a common focus.  The reasoned part of the scientific method has to do with the manner in which beliefs or observations are combined.  Basically this is the logic of statistics.  The simplest example being taking an average.    I notice too that Peirce's discussion of knowledge provided by Joe touches on some of these same issues.   BTW I don't mean for my sketchy account to be definitive  -- just suggestive.     So in conclusion I would say the FOB paper describes the the components of the scientific method --  mulitple,  individual observations or beliefs comined in a reasoned way.  The basic foundation of all individual beliefs or observation is a kind of unexamined individual  realism taken at face value (tenacity).  Countered by the beliefs of others (based on the same tenacity) provides the method of authority.  Combining these beliefs in a reasoned way adds the third "a priori" method.  And finally insisting that these combined three methods focus on the same question introduces the notion of objectivity vs subjectivity which completes the elements of the scientific method for fixing belief.   Sorry for the repitition.  Don't have time just now to clean this up but wanted to put my two cents in the discussion.    Jim Piat         --- Message from peirce-l forum to subscriber archive@mail-archive.com