The Later Theory (1891–1914)

Abstract

Peirce’s theory of abduction underwent a fundamental change during the decade between 1890 and 1900. Although the notion of abduction as the process of entertaining a hypothesis became quite explicit in the early 1890’s, the three kinds of reasoning were not regarded as the three stages of inquiry until a decade later. This change does not constitute a sudden abandonment of one view in favor of another entirely different, for the change was gradual and the roots of the later view go further back. As indicated previously, Peirce’s conception of logic as the method of methods definitely paved the way for the development of the later view. In fact, the later theory should be regarded as the outgrowth of the early view.