How We Come to Our Beliefs: Charles Sanders Peirce on The Fixation of Belief

In his essay, The Fixation of Belief, Charles Sanders Peirce looks at doubt, inquiry, and belief, noting how the psychological angst caused by doubt leads us to inquiry in which we eventually land upon a belief. In this sense, doubt leads to inquiry which then leads to belief, with the goal of inquiry being the settlement of opinion. Peirce then looks at 4 different methods where people may fixate their belief. This includes the method of tenacity, the method of authority, the a priori method, and the method of scientific investigation. Each method has their own strengths and weaknesses, but Peirce seems more inclined to the method of scientific investigation. #philosophy #pragmatism #charlessanderspeirce
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[@renatofernandes1086]

Peirce is such an interesting thinker, thanks for bringing his ideas into the TH-cam space in a faithful way.

[@theheckplays2252]

I appreciate the longer video. Thanks for the content Amygdala!

[@PhilosophyToons]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@alamedvav]

His Collected Papers is an awesome, underrated and hidden gem of philosophic masterbation.

[@cogggslayer4271]

This is fantastic!! I’m in a pragmatism class currently and this video really helped me to visualize and follow the argumentation in fixation of belief. Love Peirce! Def subscribing, thanks for the content dude!!

[@shamusenright5387]

Great summary. Deserves many more views.

[@Boris99999]

Doubt only causes discomfort and other negative consequences if you’re emotionally invested in the question to begin with!
Try comparing doubting wether you’ve written the correct answer to a test in school, doubting wether the butler is the killer in a mystery story you’re reading right now and doubting a local drunk bum that tells you he used to have million dollars on his bank account: while the first one will probably cause you a sleepless night, the second one will make reading the rest of the book suspenseful and enjoyable and the third one will probably cause a slight “meh” from you at best.
Trying to connect doubting something and negative feelings is not unreasonable but it doesn’t cover all types of doubts!

[@GuideGame1]

You make a good point: not all forms of doubting will give you the experience of anxiety, meaning: you wouldn't for every case care to inquire as much, because not all doubtings are so important to you.
By defining doubt in different gradations of experience we can conclude different practical effects of being in doubt, but I think that the necessary relation that connects doubt to belief can be either inquiry or some external change in your environment that is independent of your action but that makes you believe something new - if the environmental change is blatant enough.

[@Boris99999]

@@GuideGame1
Well I would go even further and say that the main reason of any belief is an environment effecting a person’s feelings. The more emotionally vulnerable a person is at the moment of the effect - the stronger the belief will be created out of that interaction.

[@GuideGame1]

@@Boris99999 You did go further but you've now entered into the road of incorrect thought. And I can prove it to you with one simple example:
If "one" is valued as "1", in the sense of an element of the natural numbers, and "two" is valued as "2", also a natural number, then saying "you have two apples", would make you believe you have one apple "here", and one apple "here", as long as this "here" is understood to be in your vicinity of possession.
Did you need to be very angry or sad or in whatever significant emotional state to believe that 1 plus 1 is 2? No. It's just rational thought understanding experience and mathematical conclusion.

[@Boris99999]

@@GuideGame1
I wouldn’t say I was angry - but I definitely didn’t believe that 1+1=2 out of some mathematical logic or something as ephemeral. I believe “1 apple + 1 apple = 2 apples” exactly because I have experienced it firsthand, I’ve touched those apples and ate them! This is exactly the example of environment effecting one’s beliefs through emotional manipulation. Hunger is a feeling. There’s a reason why we use edible and small beautiful things to teach arithmetics to children - they have to be emotionally effected to believe those things or else they won’t care and won’t form any beliefs!

[@GuideGame1]

@@Boris99999 Aha, so you're expanding emotions even to feeling hungry? I don't agree with calling hunger some sort of emotion, rather that hunger can induce some emotion. Hunger is a bodily function that makes you cognitively know you need to eat. Doesn't matter what emotion you have, get - or even have any at that point. And even then, you did not have to have hunger to come to the conclusion you have 2 apples, since you can still eat apples just for the taste - not hunger!
In any case, if you are bringing emotions to everything we ever think and do, then you're actually saying that everything we do involves emotions. But that doesn't really say much does it? Because you can't successfully describe a human being on the level of consciousness without emotions. Not so ockham-razor like.

[@unknowninfinium4353]

What's the song name which you play inbetween the transitions?
Love the long videos and efforts you put into it.

[@PhilosophyToons]

Thank you Akshay! For the title changes it's the microsoft windows 95 startup sound

[@yoavco99]

​@@PhilosophyToonswhat's the one in 1:20 ?

[@daniellealfonso2116]

yay thank you so much!

[@manwithaporpoiseYTsucksD]

Lakey, Warm Nights. Nice. Great channel btw

[@foadabodahood9509]

why did you choose an alien mosquito as the philosopher character? does it represent an "objective-outsider" pov?

[@PhilosophyToons]

Lol, it was intended at first to be a blue anteater. At this point he is what he is I guess

[@foadabodahood9509]

@@PhilosophyToons very cool and unique, but why ant eater originally?
just curious

[@morbloe4559]

This was bussin