How did the example of hardness explain Charles Sanders Peirce’s pragmatic method?

Charles Sanders Peirce used the example of hardness to illustrate his pragmatic method, which serves as a theory of meaning based on the practical consequences of a conception.1

To clarify the meaning of an intellectual concept, Peirce argued that one must consider the effects that might conceivably have practical bearings. He proposed that the entire meaning of an object is defined by the sum of these potential effects.21

In the case of hardness, Peirce explained that to say an object is "hard" is not merely to describe an abstract quality, but to define it through a conditional, experimental statement: if the operation of scratching the object were performed, it would not be scratched by most other substances. By translating the concept into a specific, testable experience, the pragmatic method allows for the clarification of ideas and the resolution of conceptual confusion. This approach reflects his view that scientific thought is experimental, where the meaning of a proposition is understood by the results of performing a prescribed operation.1