[Inquiry] Re: Kaina Stoicheia

[Jon Awbrey]

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KS.  Note 20

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| That certain objects 'A', 'B', 'C', etc. are known to have
| a certain character is not the slightest reason for supposing
| that another object [Xi], quite unconnected with the others so
| far as we know, has that character.  Nor has this self evident
| proposition ever been denied.  A "law", however, is taken very
| rightly by everybody to be a reason for predicting that an event
| will have a certain character although the events known to have
| that character have no other real connection with it than the law.
|
| This shows that the law is not a mere uniformity but involves a real connection.
| It is true that those metaphysicians say that if 'A', 'B', 'C', etc. are known
| to have two common characters and [Xi] is known to have one of these, this is
| a reason for believing that it has the other.  But this is quite untenable.
| Merely having a common character does not constitute a real connection;
| and those very writers virtually acknowledge this, in reducing law to
| uniformity, that is, to the possession of a common character, as a
| way of denying that "law" implies any real connection.
|
| What is a law, then?  It is a formula to which real events truly conform.
| By "conform", I mean that, taking the formula as a general principle,
| if experience shows that the formula applies to a given event, then
| the result will be confirmed by experience.  But that such a general
| formula is a symbol, and more particularly, an asserted symbolical
| proposition, is evident.  Whether or not this symbol is a reality,
| even if not recognized by you or me or any generations of men, and
| whether, if so, it implies an Utterer, are metaphysical questions
| into which I will not now enter.
|
| C.S. Peirce, ["Kaina Stoicheia"], NEM 4, 251-252
|
| C.S. Peirce, ["Kaina Stoicheia"], MS 517 (1904), pp. 235-263 in:
| Carolyn Eisele (ed.), 'The New Elements of Mathematics by
| Charles S. Peirce, Volume 4, Mathematical Philosophy',
| Mouton, The Hague, 1976.
|
| Cf. "New Elements", pp. 300-324 in 'The Essential Peirce, Volume 2 (1893-1913)',
| Peirce Edition Project (eds.), Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN, 1998.

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