Abstract

The rule for the determination of clear meaning was stated by Peirce in these words: "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". The idea of an object is the idea of its effects, of what it will do, and of what will happen to it, under various conditions. The idea or conception is a definition, or a set of properties and relationships. In a more extended sense, it is also the set of implications which, as we say, follow from its definition.