The Essential Peirce, Volume 1: Selected Philosophical Writings (1867–1893) by Nathan Houser (PDF)

Description

. . . a first-rate edition, which supersedes all other portable Peirces. . . . all the Peirce most people will ever need. —Louis Menand, The New York Review of Books”The Monist essays are included in the first volume of the compact and welcome Essential Peirce; they are by Peirce’s standards quite accessible and splendid in their cosmic scope and assertiveness.” —London Review of BooksA convenient two-volume reader’s edition makes accessible to students and scholars the most important philosophical papers of the brilliant American thinker Charles Sanders Peirce. This first volume presents twenty-five key texts from the first quarter century of his writing, with a clear introduction and informative headnotes. Volume 2 will highlight the development of Peirce’s system of signs and his mature pragmatism.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I came to this book because I was inspired by “the Metaphysical Club” to learn more about the roots of pragmatism. The book is challenging. The Metaphysical Club points out that William James did not understand Peirce at first, so it is a bit much for mere mortals. It is especially daunting because the first essay is written with respect to Kant’s categories, not something I know off of the top-of-my head.However, as the books progresses many of the things that are assumed in the first essay are explained. For instance Peirce explains in detail what he means by a sign.He discusses cognition, or consciousness and shows that logically our internal experience is based on external stimulation. It soon becomes impossible to ignore the fact that you are reading the works of a logician and that that is where he is coming from. But even though you might have to reread parts several times, once you master the arguements, it is satisfying indeed.According to the introduction of the book and references, Peirce was influential. William James, Oliver Wendel Holmes and John Dewey were all influenced by him. Modern cognitive psychology owes much to William James. Psychology took a different direction through psychoanalysis and then behaviorism but cognitive psychology is now the dominate paradigm. Because of this Peirce has renewed importance.My advice is to read it through once and not feel you have to get everything and the reread it because he explains things later that he assmes you know earlier.

⭐Excellent product and quick delivery!

⭐If there is a bridge between William James and Immanuel Kant it is Charles Peirce. I think that is all I need to say.

⭐I don’t understand why everyone in this review is acting like they really understood what they just read. Sometimes, I find myself reading the same paragraph three or four times just to grasp an understanding. I definitely have to read this book again.

⭐Charles Sanders Peirce was an American original. Aside from a few years in a logic post at the then-new Johns Hopkins University, the enmity between Peirce and President Eliot of Harvard kept him out of academia for life; he worked for the US Geodetic Survey for decades, then lived hand-to-mouth off meager earnings from writing and the help of his friend William James. However, he was one of the most prolific philosophers in American history: the uneven Harvard edition of his collected papers runs to eight large volumes, and the critical edition being prepared by Indiana University (from which the material in this two-volume selection is drawn) will contain a score of volumes when finished. Peirce was not only prolific but incredibly wide-ranging; at a time when the state of scientifically-minded philosophy was parlous, he applied himself to logic and probability in significant ways, and recognized early the deep significance of Charles Darwin’s evolutionary theories.This first volume of *The Essential Peirce* contains Peirce’s early *Monist* essays (“Some Consequences of Four Incapacities Claimed for Man”, e.g.) which should be highly instructive for anyone who has learned to criticize the “metaphysics of presence”, and the famous essays he wrote for *Popular Science Monthly* where he introduces the basic principles of pragmatism, though he does not call the view by that name (the history of the movement’s name, including Peirce’s adoption of the term “pragmaticism” to describe his own version of it, is addressed in his Harvard Pragmatism lectures in Volume Two). Writings on the evolving science of probability — one of Peirce’s distinctive doctrines is “tychism”, that chance is a real and active power in nature — round the volume out nicely. Peirce’s influence on James and John Dewey, who had a “historically effective” role in the consciousness of the United States in the 20th century, is unquestionable; if you are somewhat philosophically sophisticated, you will be additionally able to appreciate the searching depth of Peirce’s post-Kantian “Guess at the Riddle” as a standalone item.You will not find any of his cult-classic writings on semiotics here; he had not yet developed his theory of “icon, index and symbol” and his complicated ten-fold distinction between signs — even Volume Two of *The Essential Peirce* slights this side of Peirce’s efforts. Still, if you have the slightest interest in American intellectual history this is a must-have.

⭐Like another reviewer, this one wanted to learn more about Peirce based on reading other books. From this vantage point, “The Essential Piece” is particularly useful. The book’s helpful Foreword and Introduction by the Editors supplements the background found in Louis Menand’s “the Metaphysical Club.” Pierce’s articles in this collection inform both Menand’s book as well as Barbara Minto’s “the Pyramid Principle: Logic in Writing, Thinking, & Problem Solving” (see my reviews).Namely, the Editors summarize the biographical information of Peirce and go on to explain the increasing interest in him as a significant source of our modern approaches to ideas and thinking. For instance, they mention his influence such as on C.K Ogden and I.A. Richards’ “Meaning of Meaning” and later on Karl Popper whose “Logic of Scientific Discovery” had so much to do with shaping the 20th century pursuit of knowledge. They also indicate the wide breadth of Peirce’s logical, arithmetic and graphical work with its systematic nature, emphasis on dependency hierarchies and the evolutionary growth of ideas.The various chapters highlight the development of Peirce’s thought, e.g.” Questions Concerning Certain Faculties Claimed by Man,” “How to Make Our Ideas Clear,” “Design and Chance.” and the “Architecture of Theories.” One Peirce article that this reviewer found especially informative was “Deduction, Induction, and Hypothesis;” this piece appears to be Minto’s source for describing the hypothesis – rule, result, case – approach first applied in consulting by McKinsey & Company. Another favorite was “On the Algebra of Logic,” first published in 1880, which provides the earliest graphic and explanation that this reviewer has seen to date of the now prevalent “4 quadrant” presentation so frequently used by consultants.To better understand such contributions to our modern approaches to ideas and thinking consult this essential Peirce reference

⭐An essential purchase for any Peirce scholar.

⭐No other retailer has this price so really pleased

⭐Although Peirce lived primarily in the 19th century, he can be considered the most modern philosopher because he understood the world (and knowledge) as a great network of interwoven networks. In addition, he developed highly suggestive ideas about the symbolic nature of reality, the generation of knowledge, the concept of truth and meaning, the relationship between theory and practice, between ideas and action, etc. Read with the perspective of the 21st century we perceive that he is speaking to us about the world 100% as we conceive it today and helps us to understand it. Great.

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