Belief, doubt and reason: C. S. Peirce on education

Educational Philosophy and Theory 37 (2):177–189 (2005)
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Abstract

In this paper, we explore Peirce's work for insights into a theory of learning and cognition for education. Our focus for this exploration is Peirce's paper The Fixation of Belief (FOB), originally published in 1877 in Popular Science Monthly. We begin by examining Peirce's assertion that the study of logic is essential for understanding thought and reasoning. We explicate Peirce's view of the nature of reasoning itself—the characteristic guiding principles or ‘habits of mind’ that underlie acts of inference, the dimensions of and interaction between doubt and belief, and his four methods of resolving or ‘fixing’ belief (i.e., tenacity, authority, a priori, and experimentation). The four methods are then juxtaposed against current models of teaching and learning such as constructivism, schema theory, situated cognition, and inquiry learning. Finally, we discuss Peirce's modes of inference as they relate educationally to the resolution of doubt and beliefs and offer an example of belief resolution from an experienced teacher in a professional development environment.

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References found in this work

The Fixation of Belief.C. S. Peirce - 1877 - Popular Science Monthly 12 (1):1-15.
Knowing and the known.John Dewey - 1949 - Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. Edited by Arthur Fisher Bentley.
Toward a theory of instruction.Jerome Seymour Bruner - 1966 - Cambridge, Mass.,: Belknap Press of Harvard University.
Knowing and the Known.Max Black, John Dewey & Arthur J. Bentley - 1950 - Philosophical Review 59 (2):269.

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