Abstract

Abstract:

Shortly before writing the papers that many consider the birthplace of pragmatism, Peirce studied Antoine Cournot's application of the calculus to political economy. Though there is no explicit evidence that Peirce's reading of Cournot influenced his theory of inquiry, there is a discernable affinity between Cournot's approach to economics and Peirce's approach to inquiry. The current paper aims at making this affinity explicit and show that looking at Peirce through the lens of Cournot's approach to economics can give us a better understanding of Peirce's views on inquiry and his understanding of truth in terms of a final opinion.

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