Abstract
Both terms in our title, “habit” and “generalization,” are ordinary language expressions that take a peculiar and abstract sense in Peirce’s thought. From various standpoints, the concepts denoted by these two terms prove to be fundamental for understanding Peirce’s ideas, and eventually for the further development of these ideas in the philosophy of science. My review suggests that Peirce’s thought moves toward a goal that he constantly suggests but never articulates explicitly. This unstated objective is no other than the goal of generalizing the very idea of generalization. This article demonstrates that once the notion of habit is generalized, its connotational range swells to cover such diverse instances as those of symbol, rule, propensity, and law of nature. Therefore, this expanded conception can be applied to unify previously separated strands of thought and scientific practice. These considerations lead me to speculate on the possibility of extending Peircean synechism toward a wider conception that could include the generalizing functions of ideas concerning symmetry (and symmetry breaking) and other kinds of invariance. [1]
About the author
Eliseo Fernández (1935–2017) was born and educated in Argentina. For almost five decades, he worked at the Linda Hall Library of Science and Technology as a scientific consultant and taught at the University of Missouri in the physics department. He lectured and published widely on topics in the philosophy and history of science and on the thought of C. S. Peirce. Among the founders of biosemiotics, he was also a leading contributor to this journal.
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