Edwina, That's a good question:
But how do we get around the fact that most of our beliefs are 'firmly held opinions' without any ability to be factually verified.
But actually, the overwhelming number of opinions that guide our daily lives have been tested and verified by constant repetition. That's also true of the opinions of cows, chickens, cats, and dogs. All of them learn that humans feed them and take care of them. But one fateful day, some of them discover that their beliefs were tragically mistaken.
That is - as a species - are we doomed to live primarily within a fictional realm - with only the briefest diversions into the factual and truthful?
Peirce had a lot to say about those issues. His general conclusion is that the overwhelming number of beliefs that guide our daily lives are true to the extent that they have been tested. But it's important to test the limits. That's why he developed his methodeutic. John
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