The Philosophy Book

205

See also: John Locke 130–33 ■ Immanuel Kant 164–71 ■ William James 206–09 ■

John Dewey 228–31 ■ Richard Rorty 314–19

C

harles Sanders Peirce was

the scientist, logician, and

philosopher of science

who pioneered the philosophical

movement known as pragmatism.

Deeply sceptical of metaphysical

ideas—such as the idea that there

is a “real” world beyond the world

we experience—he once asked his

readers to consider what is wrong

with the following theory: a

diamond is actually soft, and only

becomes hard when it is touched.

Peirce argued that there is “no

falsity” in such thinking, for there

is no way of disproving it. However,

he claimed that the meaning of a

concept (such as “diamond” or

“hard”) is derived from the object

or quality that the concept relates

to—and the effects it has on our

senses. Whether we think of the

diamond as “soft until touched” or

“always hard” before our experience,

therefore, is irrelevant. Under both

theories the diamond feels the

same, and can be used in exactly

the same way. However, the first

theory is far more difficult to work

with, and so is of less value to us.

This idea, that the meaning of a

concept is the sensory effect of its

object, is known as the pragmatic

maxim, and it became the founding

principle of pragmatism—the belief

that the “truth” is the account of

reality that works best for us.

One of the key things Peirce

was trying to accomplish was to

show that many debates in science,

philosophy, and theology are

meaningless. He claimed that they

are often debates about words,

rather than reality, because they

are debates in which no effect on

the senses can be specified. ■

THE AGE OF REVOLUTION

IN CONTEXT

BRANCH
Epistemology

APPROACH
Pragmatism

BEFORE
17th century John Locke
challenges rationalism by
tracing the origin of our
ideas to sense impressions.

18th century Immanuel
Kant argues that speculation
about what lies beyond our
experience is meaningless.

AFTER
1890 S William James and
John Dewey take up the
philosophy of pragmatism.

1920 S Logical positivists in
Vienna formulate the theory of
verification—that the meaning
of a statement is the method
by which it is verified.

1980 S Richard Rorty’s version
of pragmatism argues that the
very notion of truth can be
dispensed with.

CONSIDER WHAT

EFFECTS THINGS HAVE

CHARLES SANDERS PEIRCE (1839–1914)

Nothing is vital for

science; nothing can be.

Charles Sanders Peirce