Abstract

In a number of brief discussions, Cheryl Misak has presented a reading of Peirce's "The Fixation of Belief " that preserves both the essay's ambitious naturalism and its sensible normativism. This essay fleshes out Misak's proposal, formulates some challenges to it, and articulates an alternative. Misak's argument rests on the plausible claim that "it is very hard really to settle beliefs". As she interprets this claim, it could also be expressed as "it is very hard really to settle beliefs." She argues, on textual and philosophical grounds...