Eric, Welcome the List !
It's Friday night and I have the feeling you'll get more advice mere mortals can handle so I'll limit myself to one or remarks. Looking back over the month and the last couple of decades on the List I think the interminable quality of many debates about Nominalism vs. Realism are due to the attempts by many to pin Peirce down on a map of the Ancient World, philosophically speaking, whereas Peirce was one of the leading figures in a movement that reshaped that map in radically new ways. More later, Jon Sent from my iPad > On Jan 27, 2017, at 6:19 PM, Eric Charles <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Oh hey, my first post to the list.... > > I must admit that I find much of the recent discussion baffling. In part, > this is because I have never had anyone explain the Nominalism-Realism > distinction in a way that made sense to me. Don't get me wrong, I think I > understand the argument in the ancient context. However, one of the biggest > appeals of American Philosophy, for me, is its ability to eliminate (or > disarm) longstanding philosophical problems. > > With that in mind, I have never been able to make sense of the > nominalist-realist debate in the context of Peirce (or James, etc.). The best > I can do is to wonder: If I am, in a general sense, a realist, in that I > think people respond to things (without any a priori dualistic privileging of > mental things vs. physical things), what difference does it make if I think > collections-of-responded-to-things are "real" as a collection, or just a > collection of "reals"? > > I know it might be a big ask, but could someone give an attempt at explaining > it to me? Either the old fashioned way, by explaining what issue is at > argument here.... or, if someone is feeling even more adventurous, by > explaining what practical difference it makes in my action which side of this > debate I am on (i.e., what habit will I have formed if I firmly believe one > way or the other?). > > Best, > Eric > > ----------- > Eric P. Charles, Ph.D. > Supervisory Survey Statistician > U.S. Marine Corps
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