List: I am puzzled by the disparagement of "a metaphysical approach" and the accompanying claim that "its premises or conclusions" are "beliefs" that "require an emotional commitment." According to Peirce, "For our present purpose it is sufficient to say that the inferential process involves the formation of a habit. For it produces a belief, or opinion; and a genuine belief, or opinion, is something on which a man is prepared to act, and is therefore, in a general sense, a habit. A belief need not be conscious" (CP 2.148, 1902). In other words, beliefs are the habits of conduct that result from inferential processes, so their role is no different in metaphysics vs. any other science. After all, "Logic may be defined as the science of the laws of the stable establishment of beliefs" (CP 3.429, 1896), and "Metaphysics consists in the results of the absolute acceptance of logical principles not merely as regulatively valid, but as truths of being" (CP 1.487, c. 1896).
Moreover, it is plainly false that "a metaphysical foundation" is equivalent to "a foundation without empirical evidence." In Peirce's architectonic classification, all the special sciences depend on metaphysics for principles and supply metaphysics with data (see CP 3.427, 1896; RLT 114, 1898). The key difference is that the special sciences are confined to "the reality of existence" and thus study "facts, observable with a microscope or telescope, or which require trained faculties of observation to detect," while metaphysics is also concerned with "the reality of potential being" and studies "those universal phenomena which saturate all experience through and through so that they cannot escape us" (EP 2:35, 1898). Put another way, the special sciences require "travel or other exploration, or some assistance to the senses, either instrumental or given by training, together with unusual diligence" (CP 1.242, 1902), while metaphysics "sets in order those observations which lie open to every man [and woman] every day and hour" (CP 7.538, 1899). Accordingly, Peirce's warning about those who dismiss metaphysics seems pertinent here. CSP: Find a scientific man [or woman] who proposes to get along without any metaphysics--not by any means every man [or woman] who holds the ordinary reasonings of metaphysicians in scorn--and you have found one whose doctrines are thoroughly vitiated by the crude and uncriticized metaphysics with which they are packed. ... Every man [and woman] of us has a metaphysics, and has to have one; and it will influence his [or her] life greatly. Far better, then, that that metaphysics should be criticized and not be allowed to run loose. (CP 1.129, c. 1905) Jeff's outline <https://list.iu.edu/sympa/arc/peirce-l/2026-01/msg00010.html> is commendable precisely because he is seeking to identify and criticize the widely unrecognized *metaphysical* assumptions underlying the modern scientific consensus about cosmology, and then offer viable alternatives for serious consideration--one of which is a distinctively Peircean framework. Regards, Jon Alan Schmidt - Olathe, Kansas, USA Structural Engineer, Synechist Philosopher, Lutheran Christian www.LinkedIn.com/in/JonAlanSchmidt / twitter.com/JonAlanSchmidt On Thu, Jan 15, 2026 at 9:25 AM Edwina Taborsky <[email protected]> wrote: > Jack, list > > The problem I have with a metaphysical approach is that such are based on > and require: belief. That is, the metaphysical approach can be extremely > and totally valid, logically, but that doesn’t make its premises or > conclusions objectively real. They remain to the core : beliefs- and > require an emotional commitment and even, in many cases, an assertion of > right vs the wrong beliefs of others…since, as noted, there is no objective > proof. . > > We have seen the results of such in all rival conflicts, in religious > authority, even - in societal and political norms and rules. > > The outline proposed by Jeff, on the other hand, requires not merely logic > but also, evidentiary evidence for its conclusions. > > The question then moves to- does our species require such an approach > to life, ie, does it require a metaphysical foundation? ..ie..a foundation > without empirical evidence but one that rests purely on belief? > > Edwina > > On Jan 15, 2026, at 6:40 AM, Jack Cody <[email protected]> wrote: > > GARY: In any event, I take your response as encouragement that > this logico-metaphysical line of thought is worth pursuing much further. > The fundamental idea can be rather simply expressed, but, I think, it may > be hard to comprehend without some investigative study, and its > implications have just begun to be explored: > > *Continuity does not arise within time; rather, time, law, and > cosmological order arise within continuity. * > > ME: Indeed, Gary, and Jon has made some valuable comments thereafter. Yes, > it's more than worthy of pursuit. Any viable metaphysics must deal with the > atemporal which one can indeed "prove" (infer necessarily). The framework > around the necessity of the atemporal, then, is what becomes vital. Jon and > I do not agree on certain, I'll call it "catechistic", issues, but he puts > God (who is atemporal if one believes in God, and also temporal, too) as > the ultimate source and thus that upon which, qua Truth, we would converge > (ultimately). Now if one is secular, we can swap out God for Truth > (qualitatively) and lose not so much (Augustinian in compatibilism here) > > I suppose what I'm saying is that whilst Jon and I have had numerous > disagreements, and in treatments of what is atemproal, no doubt, we won't > agree entirely, as it goes, I am happy (or more than happy) to see people > with the capacity to do so taking the atemporal necessity very seriously. > It's something that science simply cannot do (beyond time and space, > literally, is that which empirical methods and empirical meaning-making > materials can do very little to understand — instead, I argue, we must use > logic, and serious logic, to prove a necessary inference of the atemporal > and then it's a market place of ideas in terms of how we frame this within > extant metaphysical frameworks). Good to see this being done here, whether > I agree or not with framing — the endeavor is clearly ongoing. That's makes > me more than happy. > > Best, > Jack > >
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