Right Reasoning: S.I. Hayakawa, Charles Sanders Peirce and the Scientific Method (2002)

IN Aims and Tasks General Semantics: Implications the Time-- Binding Theory, S. I. Hayakawa (1906-1992) distinguishes between three orientations prescientific, antiscientific, and scientific - and what implication each orientation holds for the prospect human agreement (1951 & 2001). Similar themes Hayakawa's article addresses can be found in an essay written more than six decades earlier by the nineteenthcentury American logician and mathematician, Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914). Peirce (pronounced purse) is widely considered to be one the most original thinkers in the history philosophy and the greatest philosopher the United States ever produced (Brent 1993, p.xiv; Popper 1972, p.212). Among his many and varied accomplishments, he is best known for writing the founding documents American pragmatism, Peirce tells us, of ascertaining the meaning hard words and abstract conceptions (CP, vol.5, par.464) (1). Peirce sought to understand the meaning words and concepts according to their practical significance. Hayakawa sought to explore the relationship between words, human thought, and practical action. Peirce's original work in semiotics is by far the most thoroughgoing and sustained early attempt to give an account signs and their interrelations. When assessing the truth or falsehood an idea, Peirce held what matters most is the consequences follow from the idea, as distinguished from the idea itself. Peirce, like Hayakawa, believed all the methods available for analyzing various kinds claims, assertions, beliefs, and ideas, only one method a distinct advantage over all others in addressing humankind's common problems, and is the method science. Peirce's Four Methods Fixing Belief In his now famous 1887 article, Fixation Belief, Peirce examines four ways people form beliefs. For Peirce, fixation means quite literally the prevalent tendency people to fix to certain opinions or beliefs. Similarly, Peirce employs the word as that which a man is prepared to act (Wiener 1958, p.91). 1. Tenacity. The first method fixing belief is what Peirce calls the method tenacity. This method operates most simply and directly when a person forms an opinion and stubbornly clings to it, despite all external influences. Facts and experiences do not accord with one's beliefs are discarded in favor those with which one feels most comfortable. This is akin to what Hayakawa called wishful thinking or what Mark Twain satirically referred to as corn-pone opinions (Anderson 1972, p.5). It can be seen operating where fervent beliefs, once formed, permit little to no outer verification or falsification. Like the proverbial ostrich with its head in the sand, this method is a welcome refuge from the rigors individual thought and decision. 2. Authority. The second method, the method authority, differs from the first in it commands assent through institutional means. This method, Peirce explains, has ... been one the chief means upholding theological and political doctrines. These kinds beliefs are enforced through the will the state, a ruling aristocracy, an organized guild, or a professional priesthood (CP, vol.5, par.379). The purpose such institutions, in large measure, is to instill correct beliefs. This is accomplished through systematic indoctrination to keep the population in ignorance everything may create doubt. The method authority is similar to Hayakawa's orientation dependency, in which statements are accepted based on some form authority, be it a parent, sacred text, political or religious leader (p.179). As history shown, dissenters who question such systems belief are often dealt with harshly. Punishment can take various forms, from the public humiliation results from being tarred and feathered, to the formal ritual an inquisition, to the ghastly horror genocide (CP, vol. …