” On the one hand, reality is independent , not necessarily of thought in general , but only if what you or I or any finite number of men may think about it …. On the other hand , though the object of the final opinion depends on what that opinion is , yet what that opinion is does not depend on what you or I or any man thinks. Our perversity and that of others may indefinitely postpone the settlement of opinion ; it might even conceivably cause an arbitrary proposition to be universally accepted as long as the human race should last ‘
– Charles Sanders Peirce