CONCEPT
Self-Control (Peirce)
Peirce's term for the capacity that distinguishes <em>reasoning</em> from <em>mere computation</em> — the reflective ability to evaluate one's own cognitive processes against normative ideals.
Self-control, in Peirce's mature work, is what distinguishes reasoning from computation. The logical machine of 1887 could perform syllogisms, but it could not evaluate whether the syllogisms were worth performing, whether the premises were reliable, whether the conclusions advanced the inquiry or merely extended it mechanically. The machine executed; the living mind directed. The direction required self-control — the capacity to step back from the immediate process and assess it against a broader purpose. Peirce regarded self-control as essential to genuine reasoning, not incidental to it. It is the capacity that grounds commitment to the method of science, membership in the community of inquiry, and the exercise of fallibilistic judgment.
In The You On AI Field Guide
Peirce's 1903 Harvard Lectures developed self-control as the culminating concept of his logic. Logic, he argued, is not the study of how mind actually works (that is psychology) but of how mind should work — a normative science that depends on the reasoner's capacity to evaluate her own cognitive processes and revise them in accordance with
Keep reading with YOU ON AI
Unlock the full book, 10,000+ field-guide entries, and a 1000+ thinker library. If you have a book code, register now — it takes a minute.