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- Title
THE WILL TO BELIEVE AND THE WILL TO LEARN: JAMES, PEIRCE, AND ANTI-EVIDENTIALISM.
- Authors
Herbert, Daniel R.
- Abstract
The present article contests the widely received view that Peirce and James are irreconcilably opposed on the issue of evidentialism. Whereas it is typically supposed that Peirce endorses an evidentialist position opposed to the anti-evidentialism of James's important essay "The Will to Believe," it is argued here that Peirce's own commitment to the spirit of the scientific enterprise involves a limited anti-evidentialist stance. Much like James, Peirce maintains that there can be no evidence to support one's initial faith that the pursuit of scientific inquiry is capable of yielding knowledge of reality, and that such a commitment to the communal activity of science rests ultimately upon certain hopes and sentiments. It is also acknowledged, however, that James admits counterexamples to evidentialism which Peirce would not endorse, insofar as Peirce's anti-evidentialism is strictly limited to those beliefs necessary to motivate the pursuit of the scientific enterprise.
- Subjects
EVIDENTIALISM; SCIENTIFIC method
- Publication
William James Studies, 2023, Vol 18, Issue 1, p62
- ISSN
1933-8295
- Publication type
Article