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<font size="3">&#9758;</font> This page belongs to resource collections on [[Logic Live|Logic]] and [[Inquiry Live|Inquiry]].

<font size="3">&#9758;</font> This page belongs to resource collections on [[Logic Live|Logic]] and [[Inquiry Live|Inquiry]].

The '''pragmatic maxim''', also known as the '''maxim of [[pragmatism]]''' or the '''maxim of [[pragmaticism]]''', is a maxim of logic formulated by [[Charles Sanders Peirce]].  Serving as a normative recommendation or a regulative principle in the [[normative science]] of logic, its function is to guide the conduct of thought toward the achievement of its purpose, advising the addressee on an optimal way of "attaining clearness of apprehension".

The '''pragmatic maxim''', also known as the ''maxim of pragmatism'' or the ''maxim of pragmaticism'', is a maxim of logic formulated by [[Charles Sanders Peirce]].  Serving as a normative recommendation or a regulative principle in the [[normative science]] of logic, its function is to guide the conduct of thought toward the achievement of its purpose, advising the addressee on an optimal way of &ldquo;attaining clearness of apprehension&rdquo;.

==Seven ways of looking at a pragmatic maxim==

==Seven ways of looking at a pragmatic maxim==

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<blockquote>

Pragmatism.  The opinion that metaphysics is to be largely cleared up by the application of the following maxim for attaining clearness of apprehension:  "Consider what effects, that might conceivably have practical bearings, we conceive the object of our conception to have.  Then, our conception of these effects is the whole of our conception of the object.  (Peirce, CP 5.2, 1878/1902).

Pragmatism.  The opinion that metaphysics is to be largely cleared up by the application of the following maxim for attaining clearness of apprehension:  &ldquo;Consider what effects, that might conceivably have practical bearings, we conceive the object of our conception to have.  Then, our conception of these effects is the whole of our conception of the object.&rdquo; (Peirce, CP&nbsp;5.2, 1878/1902).

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<blockquote>

Pragmaticism was originally enounced in the form of a maxim, as follows:  Consider what effects that might ''conceivably'' have practical bearings you ''conceive'' the objects of your ''conception'' to have.  Then, your ''conception'' of those effects is the whole of your ''conception'' of the object.  (Peirce, CP 5.438, 1878/1905).

Pragmaticism was originally enounced in the form of a maxim, as follows:  Consider what effects that might ''conceivably'' have practical bearings you ''conceive'' the objects of your ''conception'' to have.  Then, your ''conception'' of those effects is the whole of your ''conception'' of the object.  (Peirce, CP&nbsp;5.438, 1878/1905).

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<p>Such reasonings and all reasonings turn upon the idea that if one exerts certain kinds of volition, one will undergo in return certain compulsory perceptions.  Now this sort of consideration, namely, that certain lines of conduct will entail certain kinds of inevitable experiences is what is called a "practical consideration".  Hence is justified the maxim, belief in which constitutes pragmatism;  namely:</p>

<p>Such reasonings and all reasonings turn upon the idea that if one exerts certain kinds of volition, one will undergo in return certain compulsory perceptions.  Now this sort of consideration, namely, that certain lines of conduct will entail certain kinds of inevitable experiences is what is called a &ldquo;practical consideration&rdquo;.  Hence is justified the maxim, belief in which constitutes pragmatism;  namely:</p>

   

   

<p>''In order to ascertain the meaning of an intellectual conception one should consider what practical consequences might conceivably result by necessity from the truth of that conception;  and the sum of these consequences will constitute the entire meaning of the conception.''  (Peirce, CP 5.9, 1905).</p>

<p>''In order to ascertain the meaning of an intellectual conception one should consider what practical consequences might conceivably result by necessity from the truth of that conception;  and the sum of these consequences will constitute the entire meaning of the conception.''  (Peirce, CP&nbsp;5.9, 1905).</p>

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<p>On their side, one of the faults that I think they might find with me is that I make pragmatism to be a mere maxim of logic instead of a sublime principle of speculative philosophy.  In order to be admitted to better philosophical standing I have endeavored to put pragmatism as I understand it into the same form of a philosophical theorem.  I have not succeeded any better than this:</p>

<p>On their side, one of the faults that I think they might find with me is that I make pragmatism to be a mere maxim of logic instead of a sublime principle of speculative philosophy.  In order to be admitted to better philosophical standing I have endeavored to put pragmatism as I understand it into the same form of a philosophical theorem.  I have not succeeded any better than this:</p>

   

   

<p>Pragmatism is the principle that every theoretical judgment expressible in a sentence in the [[indicative mood]] is a confused form of thought whose only meaning, if it has any, lies in its tendency to enforce a corresponding practical maxim expressible as a [[conditional sentence]] having its [[apodosis]] in the [[imperative mood]].  (Peirce, CP 5.18, 1903).</p>

<p>Pragmatism is the principle that every theoretical judgment expressible in a sentence in the indicative mood is a confused form of thought whose only meaning, if it has any, lies in its tendency to enforce a corresponding practical maxim expressible as a conditional sentence having its apodosis in the imperative mood.  (Peirce, CP&nbsp;5.18, 1903).</p>

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<blockquote>

The doctrine appears to assume that the end of man is action &mdash; a [[Stoics|stoical]] axiom which, to the present writer at the age of sixty, does not recommend itself so forcibly as it did at thirty.  If it be admitted, on the contrary, that action wants an end, and that that end must be something of a general description, then the spirit of the maxim itself, which is that we must look to the upshot of our concepts in order rightly to apprehend them, would direct us towards something different from practical facts, namely, to general ideas, as the true interpreters of our thought.  (Peirce, CP 5.3, 1902).

The doctrine appears to assume that the end of man is action &mdash; a stoical axiom which, to the present writer at the age of sixty, does not recommend itself so forcibly as it did at thirty.  If it be admitted, on the contrary, that action wants an end, and that that end must be something of a general description, then the spirit of the maxim itself, which is that we must look to the upshot of our concepts in order rightly to apprehend them, would direct us towards something different from practical facts, namely, to general ideas, as the true interpreters of our thought.  (Peirce, CP&nbsp;5.3, 1902).

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The study of philosophy consists, therefore, in reflexion, and ''pragmatism'' is that method of reflexion which is guided by constantly holding in view its purpose and the purpose of the ideas it analyzes, whether these ends be of the nature and uses of action or of thought. &hellip; It will be seen that ''pragmatism'' is not a ''Weltanschauung'' but is a method of reflexion having for its purpose to render ideas clear.  (Peirce, CP 5.13 note 1, 1902).

The study of philosophy consists, therefore, in reflexion, and ''pragmatism'' is that method of reflexion which is guided by constantly holding in view its purpose and the purpose of the ideas it analyzes, whether these ends be of the nature and uses of action or of thought. &hellip; It will be seen that ''pragmatism'' is not a ''Weltanschauung'' but is a method of reflexion having for its purpose to render ideas clear.  (Peirce, CP&nbsp;5.13 note&nbsp;1, 1902).

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This employment five times over of derivates of ''concipere'' must then have had a purpose.  In point of fact it had two.  One was to show that I was speaking of meaning in no other sense than that of intellectual purport.  The other was to avoid all danger of being understood as attempting to explain a concept by percepts, images, schemata, or by anything but concepts.  I did not, therefore, mean to say that acts, which are more strictly singular than anything, could constitute the purport, or adequate proper interpretation, of any symbol.  I compared action to the finale of the symphony of thought, belief being a demicadence.  Nobody conceives that the few bars at the end of a musical movement are the purpose of the movement.  They may be called its upshot.  (Peirce, CP 5.402 note 3, 1906).

This employment five times over of derivates of ''concipere'' must then have had a purpose.  In point of fact it had two.  One was to show that I was speaking of meaning in no other sense than that of intellectual purport.  The other was to avoid all danger of being understood as attempting to explain a concept by percepts, images, schemata, or by anything but concepts.  I did not, therefore, mean to say that acts, which are more strictly singular than anything, could constitute the purport, or adequate proper interpretation, of any symbol.  I compared action to the finale of the symphony of thought, belief being a demicadence.  Nobody conceives that the few bars at the end of a musical movement are the purpose of the movement.  They may be called its upshot.  (Peirce, CP&nbsp;5.402 note&nbsp;3, 1906).

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==References==

==References==

* Peirce, C.S., ''Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce'', vols. 1&ndash;6, [[Charles Hartshorne]] and [[Paul Weiss]] (eds.), vols. 7&ndash;8, [[Arthur W. Burks]] (ed.), Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1931&ndash;1935, 1958.  (Cited as CP&nbsp;''n''.''m'' for volume&nbsp;''n'', paragraph&nbsp;''m'').

* Peirce, C.S., ''Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce'', vols. 1&ndash;6, Charles Hartshorne and Paul Weiss (eds.), vols. 7&ndash;8, Arthur W. Burks (ed.), Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1931&ndash;1935, 1958.  (Cited as CP&nbsp;''n''.''m'' for volume&nbsp;''n'', paragraph&nbsp;''m'').

==Resources==

==Resources==

* [http://vectors.usc.edu/thoughtmesh/publish/141.php Pragmatic Maxim &rarr; ThoughtMesh]

* [http://vectors.usc.edu/thoughtmesh/publish/141.php Pragmatic Maxim &rarr; ThoughtMesh]

==Document history==

==Document history==

Portions of the above article were adapted from the following sources under the [[GNU Free Documentation License]], under other applicable licenses, or by permission of the copyright holders.

Portions of the above article were adapted from the following sources under the [[GNU Free Documentation License]], under other applicable licenses, or by permission of the copyright holders.

* [http://mywikibiz.com/Pragmatic_maxim Pragmatic Maxim], [http://mywikibiz.com/ MyWikiBiz]

* [http://mywikibiz.com/Pragmatic_maxim Pragmatic Maxim], [http://mywikibiz.com/ MyWikiBiz]

* [http://mathweb.org/wiki/Pragmatic_maxim Pragmatic Maxim], [http://mathweb.org/wiki/ MathWeb Wiki]

* [http://web.archive.org/web/20050427095007/http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/msg05407.html Pragmatic Maxim], [http://web.archive.org/web/20131214093401/http://suo.ieee.org/ontology/thrd1.html Ontology List]

* [http://netknowledge.org/wiki/Pragmatic_maxim Pragmatic Maxim], [http://netknowledge.org/ NetKnowledge]

* [http://wiki.oercommons.org/mediawiki/index.php/Pragmatic_maxim Pragmatic Maxim], [http://wiki.oercommons.org/ OER Commons]

* [http://p2pfoundation.net/Pragmatic_Maxim Pragmatic Maxim], [http://p2pfoundation.net/ P2P Foundation]

* [http://semanticweb.org/wiki/Pragmatic_maxim Pragmatic Maxim], [http://semanticweb.org/ Semantic Web]

* [http://semanticweb.org/wiki/Pragmatic_maxim Pragmatic Maxim], [http://semanticweb.org/ Semantic Web]

* [http://vectors.usc.edu/thoughtmesh/publish/141.php Pragmatic Maxim], [http://vectors.usc.edu/thoughtmesh/ ThoughtMesh]

* [http://vectors.usc.edu/thoughtmesh/publish/141.php Pragmatic Maxim], [http://vectors.usc.edu/thoughtmesh/ ThoughtMesh]

* [http://getwiki.net/-Pragmatic_Maxim Pragmatic Maxim], [http://getwiki.net/ GetWiki]

* [http://wikinfo.org/w/index.php/Pragmatic_maxim Pragmatic Maxim], [http://wikinfo.org/w/ Wikinfo]

* [http://wikinfo.org/index.php/Pragmatic_maxim Pragmatic Maxim], [http://wikinfo.org/ Wikinfo]

* [http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Pragmatic_maxim Pragmatic Maxim], [http://en.wikiversity.org/ Wikiversity]

* [http://textop.org/wiki/index.php?title=Pragmatic_maxim Pragmatic Maxim], [http://textop.org/wiki/ Textop Wiki]

* [http://beta.wikiversity.org/wiki/Pragmatic_maxim Pragmatic Maxim], [http://beta.wikiversity.org/ Wikiversity Beta]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pragmatic_maxim&oldid=45528828 Pragmatic Maxim], [http://en.wikipedia.org/ Wikipedia]

* [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Pragmatic_maxim&oldid=45528828 Pragmatic Maxim], [http://en.wikipedia.org/ Wikipedia]

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