Peirce and Ramsey

This chapter argues that two of the great pragmatists, C.S. Peirce and Frank Ramsey, had important things to say about the status of inferences to the best explanation. The entities we infer by an appeal to the best explanation cannot be inferred to exist with certainty. Nor can the principles we infer be inferred to be true with certainty. Rather, Peirce and Ramsey argue that we are justified in believing that the entities and principles in our best theory exist and are true. The difference here is important. It is the difference between being a pragmatist (of the objective sort) and a realist who reaches for too much.