Final Words

Abstract

This chapter provides a brief conclusion and summary of the ideas of Charles Sanders Peirce discussed in the preceding chapters. His work raises such questions as what are the characteristics of the world; how do we develop an understanding of that world and what methods can we use to arrive at that understanding? In addition, we can also ask: to what extent can we apply Peirce’s ideas to education? Peirce’s achievements include being the founder of pragmatism, developing a method of inquiry based on inferential logic of abduction, deduction and induction on which all education and learning depends and constructing his insightful architectonic of knowledge based on his ontological categories of Firstness, Secondness and Thirdness. In addition, he developed a sophisticated theory of meaning, semiotics, that informed his epistemological perspective and his ontological categories. The ultimate, but unobtainable, aim of Peirce’s philosophy was to arrive at a finally agreed understanding that was shared by a community of inquirers with a concern for truth. Peirce’s idea of truth, however, is independent of individual minds. It is a truth that is reflected in an agreed consensual understanding arrived at through a painstakingly logical method of inquiry over a period of time. The chapter argues that inferential logic is the underlying principle on which all education and learning depends and is demonstrated through the practical outcomes of the learning process, which is a basic tenet of pragmatism.