P448 Seminar in American Philosophy: Charles S. Peirce

(Last taught: Fall 1997)

Course Description: An intensive study of the philosophy of Charles Sanders Peirce, one of America's greatest philosophers. We will explore the general structure and development of Peirce's systematic philosophy and will examine several of his principal doctrines. Our focus will be on the critical tensions in the development of Peirce's thought that led to modifications in his philosophy, and on the nature and significance of the changes he introduced. Special consideration will be given to the evolution of Peirce's pragmatism and related semiotic and logical theories.

Texts:

The Essential Peirce, vol. 1, edited by Houser and Kloesel. Indiana University Press, 1992.

The Essential Peirce, vol. 2, edited by the Peirce Edition Project. Indiana University Press, 1998. (Relevant chapters will be available in photocopy.)

Requirements:

Mid-term exam (25%)

Notebook (25%)

Seminar presentation (10%)

Research paper (final) (40%)

Class Meetings:

1, 25 August, Introduction and survey of course.

2, Scheduled for 1 September, will not meet because of Labor Day holiday.

3, 8 September, read E1: 2-3. Recommended: EP 1 intro and Murphey encyclopedia article.

4, 15 September, read E1: 7-8 .

5, 22 September, read E1: 21-22.

6, 29 September, read E1: 25. Mid-term (take-home) will be handed out.

7, 6 October, read E2: 4-5.

8, 13 October, read E2: 10-11. Mid-term (take home) due.

9, 20 October, read E2: 12-13.

10, 27 October, read E2: 14-15.

11, 3 November, read E2: 16.

12, 10 November, read E2: 28.

13, 17 November, read E2: 29.

14, 24 November. Notebooks due (continue discussion of E28 and 29).

15, 1 December. Seminar presentations.

16, 8 December. (Final) Research paper due.

Note: All IUPUI policies, including those on plagiarism, apply in this course.

From Essential Peirce 1

E1: 2. Questions Concerning Certain Faculties Claimed for Man (1868)

E1: 3. Some Consequences of Four Incapacities (1868)

E1: 7. The Fixation of Belief (1877)

E1: 8. How to Make Our Ideas Clear (1878)

E1: 21. The Architecture of Theories (1891)

E1: 22. The Doctrine of Necessity Examined (1892)

E1: 25. Evolutionary Love (1893)

From Essential Peirce 2

E2: 4. Philosophy and the Conduct of Life (1898)

E2: 5. First Rule of Logic (1898)

HARVARD LECTURES ON PRAGMATISM (1903)

E2: 10. The Method of Pragmatism (Lecture I)

E2: 11. On Phenomenology (Lecture II)

E2: 12. The Categories Defended (Lecture III)

E2: 13. The Seven Systems of Metaphysics (Lecture IV)

E2: 14. The Three Normative Sciences (Lecture V)

E2: 15. The Grounds of Reasoning (Lecture VI)

E2: 16. Pragmatism and Abduction (Lecture VII)

E2: 28. Pragmatism (1907)

E2: 29. A Neglected Argument for the Reality of God (1908)

Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) is unique in American intellectual history and of seminal importance for modern thought. He was a tireless and brilliant thinker whose extensive writings have received international attention throughout the twentieth century. Remarkably, however, much of what Peirce wrote remains in manuscript form, unpublished and in significant disarray. There has never been a comprehensive edition of Peirce's writings organized chronologically and edited according to current scholarly practices. The Peirce Edition Project was established in 1976. Its mission is to organize and date the manuscripts and to produce an approved scholarly edition of Peirce's writings. Five volumes have been published so far, and several others are in preparation. The Peirce Project serves as an international center for Peirce scholarship and research related to Peirce's intellectual accomplishments and interests. Locally, the Peirce Project provides training for students seeking practical experience in editing, scholarly research, and development. (Visit the Peirce Project website at http://www.iupui.edu/~peirce.)

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Works by Peirce

The Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, Vols. 1-6, Charles Hartshorne and Paul Weiss, eds., Cambridge, Mass., 1931-1935; Vols. 7-8, Arthur Burks, ed., Cambridge, Mass., 1958. Available on CD ROM, John Deely, ed., Charlottesville, 1994.

Writings of Charles S. Peirce: A Chronological Edition, edited by the Peirce Edition Project. Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1982-.

Complete Published Works including Selected Secondary Material, microfiche edition, Kenneth Laine Ketner et al., eds. Connecticut, 1977. A companion bibliography is also available: A Comprehensive Bibliography of the Published Works of Charles Sanders Peirce with a Bibliography of Secondary Studies, K. L. Ketner, ed. Connecticut, 1977. Revised edition, Bowling Green, 1986.

The New Elements of Mathematics by Charles S. Peirce, 4 vols., Carolyn Eisele, ed. The Hague, 1976.

A History of Science: Historical Perspectives on Peirce's Logic of Science, 2 vols., Carolyn Eisele, ed. The Hague, 1985.

The Essential Peirce: Selected Philosophical Writings, 2 vols. (Vol. 1,Nathan Houser and Christian Kloesel, eds.; Vol. 2, edited by the Peirce Edition Project), Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1992, '98.

Reasoning and the Logic of Things: The Cambridge Conferences Lectures of 1898, Kenneth Laine Ketner, ed. Cambridge, Mass. and London, 1992.

Pragmatism as a Principle and Method of Right Thinking. Patricia Ann Turrisi, Ed. New York, 1997. (Peirce's 1903 Harvard lectures.)

Charles Sanders Peirce: Contributions to the Nation, 4 vols., Kenneth L. Ketner and James E. Cook, eds. Lubbock, 1975, '78, '79, '88.

Semiotics and Significs: The Correspondence between Charles S. Peirce and Victoria Lady Welby, Charles S. Hardwick, ed. Bloomington, 1977.

Secondary Works

Apel, Karl-Otto, Charles S. Peirce: From Pragmatism to Pragmaticism, translated by John M. Krois. Amherst, 1981.

Brent, Joseph, Charles Sanders Peirce: A Life. Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1993.

Burch, Robert W., A Peircean Reduction Thesis. Lubbock, 1991.

Delaney, C. F. Science, Knowledge, and Mind: A Study in the Philosophy of C. S. Peirce. Notre Dame and London, 1993.

Eisele, Carolyn, Studies in the Scientific and Mathematical Philosophy of Charles S. Peirce, Richard M. Martin, ed. The Hague, 1979.

Esposito, Joseph L., Evolutionary Metaphysics: The Development of Peirce's Theory of Categories. Athens, Ohio, 1980.

Fisch, Max H., Peirce, Semeiotic, and Pragmatism, Kenneth Laine Ketner and Christian J. W. Kloesel, eds. Bloomington, 1986.

Freeman, Eugene, ed., The Relevance of Charles Peirce. La Salle, 1983.

Hausman, Carl R., Charles S. Peirce's Evolutionary Philosophy. Cambridge, U.K., 1993.

Hookway, Christopher, Peirce. London, 1985.

Houser, Nathan, Don D. Roberts, and James Van Evra, eds., Studies in the Logic of Charles S. Peirce. Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1997.

Ketner, Kenneth Laine, ed., Peirce and Contemporary Thought. Bronx, 1994.

Liszka, James JakÛb, A General Introduction to the Semeiotic of Charles Sanders Peirce. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.

Murphey, Murray G., The Development of Peirce's Philosophy. Cambridge, Mass., 1961. Reprinted, Indianapolis and Cambridge, 1993.

Raposa, Michael L., Peirce's Philosophy of Religion. Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1989.

Roberts, Don D., The Existential Graphs of Charles S. Peirce. The Hague and Paris, 1973.