Scientific pride and metaphysical prejudice
ens quantum ens, quantum theory, and Peirce
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23925/1984-3585.2024i2930p269-294Keywords:
Pride, prejudice, metaphysics, Quantum theory, PeirceAbstract
Metaphysicians and physicists both share the proud desire to understand the world and all the things in it, to fully comprehend the nature of reality. Almost one hundred years after it was proposed, quantum theory has radically transformed the science of physics, inviting a conception of reality that is drastically at odds with our most rooted metaphysical convictions. A scientist and metaphysician extraordinaire, Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914) was singularly poised to recognize some of the “metaphysical prejudices” about the world that quantum theory, developed years later, has revealed. This article proposes to trace how Peirce’s realism, inspired by the thirteenth-century Franciscan monk John Duns Scotus (c. 1266–1308) and adapted for a recon-ceived scientific metaphysics, parallels some of the familiar enigmas posed by quantum physics in the early twenty-first century.
References
OERSEMA, David. Metaphysics. In: American philosophy: An encyclopedia. LACHS, John; TALISSE Robert (eds.). New York, NY: Routledge, 2008.
BOLER, John F. Charles Sanders Peirce and scholastic realism. Seattle, WA: Washington University Press, 1963.
CAPRA, Fritjof. The web of life: A new scientific understanding of living systems. New York, NY: Anchor Books, 1996.
CHWE, Michael Suk-Young. Scientific pride and prejudice. New York Times, January 31, 2014. https:// www.nyti mes.com/ 2014/02/02/opinion/sun day/scientific-pride-and-prejudice.html
CROSS, Richard. Duns Scotus: Some recent research. Journal of the History of Philosophy, Baltimore, MD, v. 49, n. 3 (July), p. 271–295, 2011.
De Waal, Cornelis de (ed.). Oxford handbook of Charles Sanders Peirce. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2024.
DUNS SCOTUS, John. Ordinatio. In Opera omnia, Charles Balic (ed.), v. 1-14. Vatican City: Vatican Polyglot Press, 1950-2-13.
DUNS SCOTUS, John. Questions on the metaphysics of Aristotle. Translation: Girard J. Etzkorn; Allan Wolter, O.F.M. St. Bonaventure, NY: Franciscan Institute, 1997.
FERNANDEZ, Eliseo. Peirce in 21st century science and philosophy: New prospects, 2008. Disponível em: https://arisbe.sitehost.iu.edu/menu/library/aboutcsp/fernandez/efpa-pers.htm.
HAACK, Susan. Extreme scholastic realism: Its relevance to philosophy of science today. Transactions of the Charles Sanders Peirce Society, Indianapolis, v. 28, n.1 (Winter), p. 19-50, 1992.
HAACK, Susan. The differences that make a difference: William James on the importance of individuals. European Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy, Paris, v. 2, n.1, p. 1-10, 2010.
HAACK, Susan. The world and how we know it: Stumbling toward an understanding. Journal of Critical Realism, London, v. 19, n.1, p. 78-88.
HAACK, Susan. Scientistic philosophy, no; Scientific philosophy, yes. The Quarterly Journal of Philosophical Investigations, Tabriz, v. 15, n. 36 (autumn 2021), p. 4– 35, 2021.
HARTSHORNE, Charles. Charles Sanders Peirce and quantum mechanics. Transactions of the Charles Sanders Peirce Society, Indianapolis, v. 9, n. 4, 1973, p. 191-201.
INGHAM, Mary Beth; DREYER, Mechthild. The philosophical theology of John Duns Scotus. Washington, DC: Catholic University Press, 2004.
KRAAIJEVELD, Steven R. Jane Austen and cognitive bias, May 19, 2019. https://stevenrkraaijeveld.com/blog/jane-austen-and-cognitive-bias, 2019.
LABATUT, Benjamin. When we cease to understand the world. Translation: Adrian Nathan West. New York, NY: New York Review Books, 2020.
LANE, Robert. Peirce on realism and idealism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
LAZELLA, Andrew. The singular voice of being: John Duns Scotus and ultimate difference. New York, NY: Fordham University Press, 2019.
MAYORGA, Rosa Maria Perez-Teran. From realism to realicism: The metaphysics of Charles Sanders Peirce. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007.
MAYORGA, Rosa Maria. Metaphysics, religion, and death, or we’ll always have Paris. Cosmos + Taxis: Studies in Emergent Order and Organization, Okanagan, v. 8, n. 4-5, p. 49-59, 2020.
MAYORGA, Rosa Maria. Peirce’s moral realicism. In: DE WAAL, Cornelis de; SKOWRONSKI, Krzysztof Piotr (eds.). The normative thought of Charles Sanders Peirce, p. 101-124. New York, NY: Fordham University Press, 2008a.
MAYORGA, Rosa Maria. Realism: scholastic. In LACHS, John; TALISSE, Robert (eds.). American philosophy: An encyclopedia, p. 651– 652. New York, NY: Routledge, 2008b.
PEIRCE, Charles Sanders. 1931–1 958. The collected papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, 8 vols., Hartshorne, Charles; Weiss, Paul (eds.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1931-1958. (Referido como CP.)
PEIRCE, Charles Sanders. The essential Peirce: Selected philosophical writings. Houser, Nathan; Kloesel, Christian; Peirce Edition Project (eds.), 2 vols. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1992; 1998. Referido como EP, seguindo do número do vol.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 TECCOGS: Revista Digital de Tecnologias Cognitivas
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Esta revista oferece acesso livre imediato ao seu conteúdo de acordo com a licença CC BY 4.0, em conformidade com a definição de acesso público do Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).
Ao submeter um texto à TECCOGS, os autores asseguram que o material submetido à avaliação e eventual publicação não infringe de modo algum qualquer direito proprietário ou copyright de outros. Com a submissão, o autor transfere em efetivo os direitos de publicação do artigo para a TECCOGS. A transferência de copyright cobre os direitos exclusivos de publicação e distribuição do artigo, incluindo reimpressões ou quaisquer outras reproduções de natureza similar, além de traduções. Os autores mantém o direito de usar todo ou partes deste texto em trabalhos futuros de sua autoria e de conceder ou recusar a permissão a terceiros para republicar todo ou partes do texto ou de suas traduções. Para republicar números da revista na íntegra, qualquer interessado precisa obter permissão por escrito tanto dos autores como também dos editores da TECCOGS. A TECCOGS por si só pode conceder direitos relativos a emissões de periódicos como um todo.
Imagens com direitos autorais pertencentes a terceiros, que não foram concedidos ao autor do texto, devem ser utilizadas somente quando necessárias à análise e ao argumento da pesquisa, sempre indicando as respectivas fontes e autoria. A TECCOGS dispensa o uso de imagens meramente ilustrativas. Se desejar ilustrar um conceito, o autor deve indicar, em forma de URL ou referência bibliográfica, uma referência em que a ilustração esteja disponível.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This journal offers free immediate access to its content under CC BY 4.0, in accordance with Directory of Open Access Journals' (DOAJ) definition of Open Acess.
When submitting a text to TECCOGS, authors ensure that the material submitted for evaluation and eventual publication does not infringe any proprietary right or copyright. Upon submission, authors effectively transfer the publication rights of the article to TECCOGS. The copyright transfer covers the exclusive rights of publication and distribution of the article, including reprints or any other reproduction of similar nature, in addition to translations. Authors retain the right to use all or parts of the text in future works of their own, as well as to grant or refuse permission to third parties to republish all or parts of the text or its translations. In order to fully republish issues of the magazine, anyone interested must obtain written permission from both the authors and the editors of TECCOGS. TECCOGS alone can grant rights relating to issues of journals as a whole.
Images whose copyright belongs to third parties that have not been granted to the author of the text should be used only when essential for the analysis and argument, always indicating theirs respective sources and authorship. TECCOGS dismisses any use of merely illustrative images. To illustrate a concept, the author must indicate, in the form of a URL or bibliographic reference, a source in which the illustration is available.
