Joe,
After setting it aside for awhile, i've just returned to your original
question: What are the "two fundamental psychological laws" upon which
Peirce says the method of tenacity is based? I have another answer to
suggest (at least i don't recall this exact suggestion being made
before).
I think the two "laws" are actually stated in the paragraph (the first
of of section V of FoB), but only one is stated directly in lawlike
fashion: "a steady and immovable faith yields great peace of mind." The
second is only implied, specifically in the image of the ostrich and
Peirce's comment on the ostrich strategy, which immediately precedes his
remark about the "two fundamental psychological laws". Stated more
directly, this "law" is that a fixed habit of ignoring inconvenient
facts also yields peace of mind. Thus it is a sort of negative
counterpart to the "faith" of the first "law", which may justify the
coupling of the two in Peirce's phrase. Even the casual manner in which
these "laws" are mentioned is appropriate, given the contrast between
the logical and the psychological which Peirce develops in this essay,
and the contempt for "psychological laws" which is thinly veiled by his
irony.
Well, that's how i read it this time, anyway.
gary F.
}She'll confess it by her figure and she'll deny it to your face.
[Finnegans Wake 271]{
gnoxic studies }{ http://users.vianet.ca/gnox/gnoxic.htm
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