Peirce: A Guide for the Perplexed

Guides for the Perplexed

by Cornelis De Waal

Charles Sanders Peirce, the founder of pragmatism, is a hugely important and influential thinker in the history of American philosophy. His philosophical interests were broad and he made significant contributions in several different areas of thought. Moreover, his contributions are intimately connected and his philosophy designed to form a coherent and systematic whole. "Peirce: A Guide for the Perplexed" is a clear and thorough account of Peirce's life and thought, his major works and ideas, providing an ideal guide to this important and complex thinker. The book introduces all the key concepts and themes in Peirce's thought, exploring his contributions to logic, pragmatism, truth, semiotics and metaphysics and demonstrating how his ideas developed into a coherent system of thought. Geared towards the specific requirements of students who need to reach a sound understanding of Peirce's ideas, the book serves as a clear and concise introduction to his philosophy. This is the idea companion to study of this most influential and challenging of thinkers.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Biography

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 3, 2013

Reviews

[Loren Picard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked this book up while trying to acquaint myself with Constructor Theory (which relies heavily on abduction as a source of counterfactuals--a concept of Peirce's) as well as thinking about the differences between Popper and Kuhn in relation to the creation of new knowledge. Peirce ("Purse") is one of those intellects whose output shows up all over the place, particularly in footnotes. This book is well worth reading. While reading you will make connections all over the intellectual landscape.

[Rasmus Tillander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Erinomainen johdatus Peircen sekavaan, mutta syvälliseen filosofiaan.

[Zachary Waltz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book very much helped me undertand Charles Sanders Peirce and his provisional realism.

I particularly loved the four types of fixing belief, the logic of science (particularly abduction), final interpretant built on hope. But then, potentially, paradigm shift: current model no longer makes sense of the questions posed.

I love the idea of blocking the road to inquiry such as Platonic forms and the Kantian hypotheses.

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not an expert in Peirce, but this book certainly seems to be a solid primer in Peirce's key tenets, clearly organized and forthrightly presented.