As Charles Peirce (1935, 3) expresses this commonplace view, “The scientific man is above all things desirous of learning the truth and, in order to do so, ardently desires to have his present provisional beliefs (and all his beliefs are merely provisional) swept away, and will work hard to accomplish that object.”

DEFINE: Peirce defines the scientific attitude as a desire to have one's provisional beliefs swept away, framing it as a core attribute rather than a method.

Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, loc. 1020