“What distinct meaning can attach to saying that an idea in the past in any way affects an idea in the future, from which it is completely detached?”

The Law of Mind (1892)

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Charles Sanders Peirce121

American philosopher, logician, mathematician, and scientist 1839–1914

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“Third, consider the insistency of an idea. The insistency of a past idea with reference to the present is a quantity which is less, the further back that past idea is, and rises to infinity as the past idea is brought up into coincidence with the present.”

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“What distinct meaning can attach to saying that an idea in the past in any way affects an idea in the future, from which it is completely detached?”

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Charles Sanders Peirce121

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