A term used by Jeremy Bentham and adopted by Charles S. Peirce to denote the spectrum of observations open to literally every researcher.
The word Coenoscopic comes from Greek: the prefix (coeno-) means general, and the root (scopic) “observe”.
According to Peirce, some forms of research (mostly philosophical) are coenoscopic – they refer to observations that can be made in the framework of any normal human experience, in every hour of our lives.
In contrast, other studies (such as chemical and physical) are idioscopic – that is, they depend on a focused observation, often aided by special training and/or technology.
The distinction between coenoscopic and idioscopic types of research is not aimed at separating philosophy from science. On the contrary, it shows what kind of science philosophy is. The status of philosophy as a science and its most consistent pursuit of such a status has been tested and questioned.
But Peirce‘s claim here is quite modest – when he says that philosophy is either science or stupidity, he simply means that it should strive to be a universal, empirical form of research, the conclusions of which are created by continuous appeals to the daily experience of human beings.
