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Indefinite as a Bedrock: A Commentary on Peirce's Seventh Question on Reality

Publication at Faculty of Humanities |
2022

Abstract

This presentation focuses on the definition of truth and the concept of information as it is present in Peirce's short text Questions on Reality from 1868 (W2: 162-163), specifically on the question 7 which defines truth in order to be used in the consequent question that uses this concept to delimitate reality as "the character of true proposition" (ibid.). This short draft or a sketch reveals Peirce's opinion on the matter of reality that is later, in the same and the following year, treated in detail in so-called Cognition Series, which composes of three very influential papers on the topic. Questions on Reality and other following drafts are, in my opinion, of a huge importance for anybody who wants to reconstruct Peirce's 1868's thought on the subject of reality, because they provide a clear connection between Cognition Series and Peirce's previous work, such as Harvard and Lowell lectures (1865, W1: 162-286; 1866, W1: 358-490).