âTruth is that to which the community ultimately settles downâ (Charles Peirce). Analyse
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- Fri Jan 16 2009
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... "Truth is that to which the community ultimately settles down" (Charles Peirce). Analyse and evaluate this claim. Truth--its definition, its pursuit, its discovery--is central to much of human intellectual activity. One place we look for clues about what is true is in the trends of the community. We may attempt to find it in religion or cultural beliefs, for example, that we have learned from a community that shares these beliefs. We know the earth is round or that war is bad because everyone knows it. Pierce's statement praises this way of knowing, suggesting that community, whatever that community may be, is a key to the search for truth. This suggestion is tied to the idea of a body of human knowledge, the idea that the human race progresses as each community member adds to the world's knowledge, relying on what others have concluded is true and then building on it with his or her own new knowledge.














