How to Make Our Ideas Clear

Bibliographic Data

ID23159462
AuthorsCharles S Peirce (corresponding author), John Dewey (0000-0002-6290-1635)
Year2011
Volume12
Pages50-65
Publication date2011-12-31
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeCHAPTER
VenuePragmatism Reader (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherPrinceton University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1515/9781400838684-004
OpenAlexW2612113037
ISBN9781400838684
LanguageEN
Citations received26

A clear idea is defined as one which is so apprehended that it will be recognized wherever it is met with, and so that no other will be mistaken for it. A distinct idea is defined as one which contains nothing which is not clear. This is technical language; by the contents of an idea logicians understand whatever is contained in its definition. The idea which the word force excites in our minds has no other function than to affect our actions, and these actions can have no reference to force otherwise than through its effects. For an individual, however, there can be no question that a few clear ideas are worth more than many confused ones. A young man would hardly be persuaded to sacrifice the greater part of his thoughts to save the rest; and the muddled head is the least apt to see the necessity of such a sacrifice.

Consciousness · Contempt · Disadvantage · Epistemology · Infallibility · Loyalty · Natural (archaeology) · Political science · Classical Philosophy and Thought · History · Law · Philosophy · Psychology · Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought · Social Psychology

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