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CP 1.9 "Though infallibility in scientific matters seems to me irresistibly comical, I should be in a sad way if I could not retain a high respect for those who lay claim to it, for they comprise the greater part of the people who have any conversation at all. When I say they lay claim to it, I mean they assume the functions of it quite naturally and unconsciously. The full meaning of the adage Humanum est errare, they have never waked up to. In those sciences of measurement which are the least subject to error -- metrology, geodesy, and metrical astronomy -- no man of self-respect ever now states his result, without affixing to it its probable error; and if this practice is not followed in other sciences it is because in those the probable errors are too vast to be estimated."
Error is rife. Not only scientific errors or other measurable determinations. But also, each life is littered with error rising from the interconnectedness of everything and the degree of negativity.
In this passage, Peirce uses the word "unconscious" to suggest that consciousness suggests an environment of intentional consideration aimed at ascertaining truth.
This is as good a time as any to suggest that there are two sorts of information that float in the sea which I am happy to call consciousness. The first is essentially mindless -- science is the only authority we have, I hate laggards. The second is mindful. Science is built on fallibility. Love is the highest value. Success in science often starts by proving what we believe to be wrong.
I believe all things are a matter of record and that the difference between utter fallibility and milder forms of it lie in a contrast between binary and triadic thinking. A binary thinker will generally not think at all or insist on choosing one or another side. A triadic thinker will introduce ethics and aesthetics into a consideration.
Peirce will have much more to say as we proceed, but it is both entertaining and instructive to be aware of what his predilections are.
Error is rife. Not only scientific errors or other measurable determinations. But also, each life is littered with error rising from the interconnectedness of everything and the degree of negativity.
In this passage, Peirce uses the word "unconscious" to suggest that consciousness suggests an environment of intentional consideration aimed at ascertaining truth.
This is as good a time as any to suggest that there are two sorts of information that float in the sea which I am happy to call consciousness. The first is essentially mindless -- science is the only authority we have, I hate laggards. The second is mindful. Science is built on fallibility. Love is the highest value. Success in science often starts by proving what we believe to be wrong.
I believe all things are a matter of record and that the difference between utter fallibility and milder forms of it lie in a contrast between binary and triadic thinking. A binary thinker will generally not think at all or insist on choosing one or another side. A triadic thinker will introduce ethics and aesthetics into a consideration.
Peirce will have much more to say as we proceed, but it is both entertaining and instructive to be aware of what his predilections are.
