Peirce was a genius. One of the greatest American thinkers, and I don’t say that lightly. I first learned of him when I read his essay “The Fixation of Belief” in a formal logic class in college.
He is often referred to as a logician, but he is truly a philosopher, with major contributions to mathematics, logic, mathematical logic, semiotics, philosophy of mind, phenomenology, epistemology, philosophy of science, and many many many other disciplines, including geodetics, physics, etc
His name kept popping up over the years, and while I was blown away by that essay, I never took time to explore his contributions, or learn about him as a man, philosopher, thinker.
Recently I bought some of his books, and I’ve been blown away by how much his ideas resonate with my intuitions.
He’s considered the originator of pragmatism (or pragmaticism as he liked to call it). His two close contemporaries/friend’s were Willian James and John Dewey, but he was close with many other renown American thinkers.
I say all this because our conversations about consciousness recently are a lot more illuminating when you read his ideas and works. I recommend diving in and at least skimming some of his key ideas.
I’d type them out here, but I’d end up writing a novella in the process. A good start is to read that essay, The Fixation of Belief.
If that doesn’t turn you on, I don’t know what will.
It’s just so damn compelling. Resonating.
But that’s a mere sliver of his overarching philosophy, or evolutionary cosmology.
I had no idea that he was the originator of semiotics. Like wow.
William Dare 