Abstract

This chapter examines Charles Sanders Peirce's take on two puzzling notions: the substantiality of things (including the “self”), and the foundations of human knowledge. In that sense, it also analyzes the three ideas central to Peirce's theory of knowing as continuous inference: the notion of truth, the notion of reality, and the notion of community. First, Peirce adds to the traditional notion of truth a heuristic notion of truth as that upon which the community of inquirers will agree in the long run. In addition, Peirce's account of reality explicitly endorses the scholastic insight into truth and reality as co-extensive. Finally, Peirce's account of truth and of reality requires the explicit recognition of the role of the community. This refers not just to any group of people but to the community of inquirers.

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