Essays in Experimental Logic

The essays examine the nature and function of inquiry, arguing that reflective thought occupies an intermediate temporal stage between primary non-reflective experience and explicit knowledge. They analyze relations among thought, subject-matter, data, meanings, and objects of thought; trace antecedents and stimuli of thinking; and outline stages in logical development. A pragmatic-instrumental perspective is applied to ideas, judgment, and the control of ideas by facts, with critical discussions of realism and the problem of the world's existence as a logical issue. Several chapters apply a behavioristic psychology to clarify how practical interests and non-cognitive contexts shape cognition.