The Normative Thought of Charles S. Peirce - (American Philosophy) by Cornelis de Waal & Krysztof Piotr Skowroń & ski (Hardcover)

About the Book

A collection of eleven essays on the moral philosophy of the American Polymath Charles S. Peirce (1839-1914). The essays cover the three normative sciences that Peirce distinguishes (esthetics, ethics, and logic), and their relation to metaphysics.

Book Synopsis

This volume explores the three normative sciences that Peirce distinguished (aesthetics, ethics, and logic) and their relation to phenomenology and metaphysics. The essays approach this topic from a variety of angles, ranging from questions concerning the normativity of logic to an application of Peirce's semiotics to John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme."

A recurrent question throughout is whether a moral theory can be grounded in Peirce's work, despite his rather vehement denial that this can be done. Some essays ask whether a dichotomy exists between theoretical and practical ethics. Other essays show that Peirce's philosophy embraces meliorism, examine the role played by self-control, seek to ground communication theory in Peirce's speculative rhetoric, or examine the normative aspect of the notion of truth.

Review Quotes

"These are all sophisticated philosophical essays devoted, some primarily to the interpretation and others to the extension of, the ideas of one of America's most difficult thinkers."-----Michael L. Raposa, Lehigh University

This is an outstanding work of scholarship, an important contribution
to the now significant body of secondary literature devoted to the
philosophy of Charles S. Peirce. The intellectual range of the book is
truly impressive, and yet the attention to Peirce's realism throughout
supplies an important thread of continuity.

-----Michael L. Raposa, Lehigh University

"The volume makes a timely contribution to current Peirce scholarship."-----Shannon Dea, University of Waterloo

About the Author

Cornelis de Waal received his PhD from the University of Miami in 1997. He is associate professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and is editor-in-chief of the Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society. From 1998 till 2011 he was one of the editors of the Writings of Charles S. Peirce: A Chronological Edition (1981-). He has written or edited several books, including On Peirce (2001), On Pragmatism (2005), and Susan Haack: A Lady of Distinctions: The Philosopher Responds to Her Critics (2007).

Krzysztof (Chris) Piotr Skowron´ski, PhD, currently teaches contemporary philosophy, esthetics, cultural anthropology, Polish philosophy, and American philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy, Opole University, Poland. He co-organizes annual conferences on American and European values and is the author of Values and Powers: Re-reading the Philosophy of American Pragmatism (2009) and Santayana and America: Values, Liberties, Responsibility (2007). He also coedited Under Any Sky: Contemporary Readings of George Santayana (with Matthew Flamm; 2007), American and European Values: Contemporary Philosophical Perspectives (with Matthew Flamm and John Lachs; 2008), and The Continuing Relevance of John Dewey: Reflection on Aesthetics, Morality, Science, and Society (with Larry Hickman, Matthew Flamm, and Jennifer Rea; 2011).