Evolution, the True Scientist, and His Attraction to the Highest Good: The Growth in the Concrete Reasonableness According to Peirce

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By this author: Sorensen, Bent ;&nbsp; Thellefsen, T.

Authors: Sorensen, Bent; Thellefsen, T.

Source: Cybernetics & Human Knowing, Volume 16, Numbers 1-2, 2009 , pp. 9-25(17)

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Abstract:

According to C. S. Peirce evolution is a manifestation of the progressive reason-- a growth in the concrete reasonableness; this Peirce used synonymously with Summum Bonum, the highest good. Evolution is not a value neutral process; rather it is an aesthetic-moral process. The true scientist is marked by the living telos of reason. He is attracted to it due to the intrinsic aesthetic goodness of the idea. Only in this way is he able to fulfill the two obligations: 1. the logical obligation to pursue truth for truth's sake, which rests upon 2. an ethical obligation and the identification of his interests of cognition with the interests of an infinite community of inquiry.

Keywords: C. S. Peirce; evolution as an aesthetic-moral process; the intrinsic goodness of the idea

Document Type: Research article

Publication date: 2009-01-01