"Collected Papers" by Charles Sanders Peirce,1931

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A belief is a habit of action ;
different beliefs give rise to different modes of action.
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Our idea of anything is our idea of its sensible effects ;
objects are distinguished according to the difference they make practically.
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True ideas are those to which responsible investigators,
were they to push their inquires for enough,would finally give assent ;
reality is what true ideas represent.
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Of the four methods of fixing belief
-the method of tenacity,of authority,of a priori judgments,and the method of science-
the scientific is preferable as providing critical tests of procedures.
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By the conceptions of Firstness,Secondness,and Thirdness,
a metaphysics of cosmic evolution can be developed ;
Firstness is the individual quality of a thing,
Secondness is the relatedness of a thing to something other than itself,and
Thirdness is the tendency to mediate,to contribute to law.
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1.There is chance in the universe -tychism- ;
2.the universe begins in a chaos of unpersonalized feeling and develops habits or patterns of action -synechism- ;
3.finally,as laws develop,the universe moves toward a condition of perfect rationality and symmetry -agapasm-.
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