I have thus outlined Mr. Peirce’s views, not only because his line of
reasoning[76] is admirable and deserves to be universally known and
recognised, but also because it seems to me to have some bearing upon the
question at issue.
If the ultimate conclusion of every man concerning reality shall be the
same, there must be some truth in the idea of necessity. If there is an
opinion “fated to be ultimately agreed to,” we are confronted in our
representation of reality with something that is inevitable. Shall there
be necessity in thought but not in that of which all our ideas are but
images and symbols? We can conceive of the necessity in the ideal realm
of thought only as a reflection of that necessity which pervades the
original and prototype of our thought, which lives in reality.