Abstract
Peirce's essay "Questions Concerning Certain Faculties Claimed for Man" asserts a preference of inference from our cognition over intuitive ontological statements about the fundament. By employing inferential reasoning (and showing that other than inferential reasoning would be impossible), "Questions" and other articles of "Cognition Series" beg for a doctrine of the nature of reality as acquired from the empiric.
In my presentation I want to show the mix of logical, historical and empiric arguments presented in said essay as the framework that serves as a salvo fired in anticipation of later refined doctrines of synechism and tychism. My argument will be twofold: that (1) the specific methodology of Peirce here is guided by his strong belief in a doctrine of reality built around laws derived from our cognition and scientific praxis, and that (2) this attempt asserts guidelines for semiotic inquiry concerning the place where, colloquially speaking, the reality is.