Synechism

Synechism (from Greek συνεχής synechḗs, "continuous" + -ism, from σύν syn, "together" + ἔχειν échein>, "to have", "to hold"), a philosophical term proposed by C. S. Peirce[1] to express the tendency to regard things such as space, time, and law as continuous:[2]

The things of this world, that seem so transitory to philosophers, are not continuous. They are composed of discrete atoms, no doubt Boscovichian points. The really continuous things, Space, and Time, and Law, are eternal.

His synechism holds that the essential feature in philosophic speculation is continuity. It denies that all is merely ideas, likewise that all is merely matter, and mind–matter dualism.

The adjective "synechological" is used in the same general sense; "synechology" is a theory of continuity or universal causation; "synechia" is a term in ophthalmology for a morbid union of parts.

  1. ^ "The Law of Mind", Monist, ii. 534, reprinted (Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce v. 6, paragraphs 102-163) (Essential Peirce 1, pp. 312-333).
  2. ^ See p. 115 in Reasoning and the Logic of Things, Ketner, ed., 1992, from Peirce's 1898 lectures.

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