Changes

Before this discussion can proceed any further I need to introduce a technical vocabulary that is specifically designed to articulate the relation of thought to action and the relation of conduct to purpose.  This terminology makes use of a classical distinction between ''action'', as simply taken, and ''conduct'', as fully considered in the light of its means, its ways, and its ends.  To the extent that affects, motivations, and purposes are bound up with one another, the objects that lie within the reach of this language that are able to be grasped by means of its concepts provide a form of cognitive handle on the complex arrays of affective impulsions and the unruly masses of emotional obstructions that serve both to drive and to block the effective performance of inquiry.

Before this discussion can proceed any further I need to introduce a technical vocabulary that is specifically designed to articulate the relation of thought to action and the relation of conduct to purpose.  This terminology makes use of a classical distinction between ''action'', as simply taken, and ''conduct'', as fully considered in the light of its means, its ways, and its ends.  To the extent that affects, motivations, and purposes are bound up with one another, the objects that lie within the reach of this language that are able to be grasped by means of its concepts provide a form of cognitive handle on the complex arrays of affective impulsions and the unruly masses of emotional obstructions that serve both to drive and to block the effective performance of inquiry.

Once the differentiation between sheer activity and deliberate conduct is comprehended on informal grounds and motivated by intuitive illustrations, the formal capabilities of their logical distinction can be sharpened up and turned to instrumental advantage in accomplishing two further aims:

Once the differentiation between sheer activity and deliberate conduct is

comprehended on informal grounds and motivated by intuitive illustrations,

the formal capabilities of their logical distinction can be sharpened up

and turned to instrumental advantage in accomplishing two further aims:

1.  To elucidate the precise nature of the

# To elucidate the precise nature of the relation between action and conduct.

    relation between action and conduct.

# To facilitate a study of the whole variety of contingent relations that are possible and maintained between action and conduct.

2.  To facilitate a study of the whole variety

When the relations among these categories are described and analyzed in greater detail, it becomes possible forge their separate links together, and thus to integrate their several lines of information into a fuller comprehension of the relations among thought, the purposes of thought, and the purposes of action in general.

    of contingent relations that are possible

    and maintained between action and conduct.

When the relations among these categories are described and analyzed in

It is possible to introduce the needed vocabulary, while at the same time advancing a number of concurrent goals of this project, by resorting to the following strategy.  I inject into this discussion a selected set of passages from the work of C.S. Peirce, chosen with a certain multiplicity of aims in mind.

greater detail, it becomes possible forge their separate links together,

and thus to integrate their several lines of information into a fuller

comprehension of the relations among thought, the purposes of thought,

and the purposes of action in general.

# These excerpts are taken from Peirce's most thoughtful definitions and discussions of pragmatism.  Thus, the general tenor of their advice is pertinent to the long-term guidance of this project.

# With regard to the target vocabulary, these texts are especially acute in their ability to make all the right distinctions in all the right places, and so they serve to illustrate the requisite concepts in the context of their most appropriate uses.

# Aside from their content being crucial to the scope of the present inquiry, their form, manner, sequence, and interrelations supply the kind of material needed to illustrate an important array of issues involved in the topic of reflection.

# Finally, my reflections on these passages are designed to illustrate the variety of relations that occur between the POV of a writer, especially as it develops through time, and the POV of a reader, in the light of the ways that it deflects its own echoes through a text in order to detect the POV of the writer that led to its being formed in that manner.

 

1.  These excerpts are taken from Peirce's most thoughtful definitions

    and discussions of pragmatism.  Thus, the general tenor of their

    advice is pertinent to the long-term guidance of this project.

 

2.  With regard to the target vocabulary, these texts are especially  

    acute in their ability to make all the right distinctions in all

    the right places, and so they serve to illustrate the requisite

    concepts in the context of their most appropriate uses.

 

3.  Aside from their content being crucial to the scope of the present

    inquiry, their form, manner, sequence, and interrelations supply

    the kind of material needed to illustrate an important array

    of issues involved in the topic of reflection.

 

4.  Finally, my reflections on these passages are designed to

    illustrate the variety of relations that occur between the

    POV of a writer, especially as it develops through time, and

    the POV of a reader, in the light of the ways that it deflects

    its own echoes through a text in order to detect the POV of the

    writer that led to its being formed in that manner.

The first excerpt appears in the form of a dictionary entry,

The first excerpt appears in the form of a dictionary entry,

intended as a definition of "pragmatism".

intended as a definition of "pragmatism".