Pierce Charles Sanders is an American philosopher, logician, mathematician and scientist, whom some call the "father of pragmatism." He was educated as a chemist and worked as a scientist for 30 years. He is appreciated for his huge contribution to logic, mathematics, philosophy and semiotics. Also, the American scientist is popular in that he put forward the main provisions of the philosophical trend - pragmatism.
Confession
Charles Pierce is an innovator in mathematics, statistics, philosophy, and also in some research methodologies of various sciences. Pierce considered himself primarily a logician. He made a great contribution to this science. Along with this, logic opened the way for him to new discoveries and conclusions. He saw logic as a formal branch of semiotics, the founder of which he became. In addition, Charles Pierce defined the concepts of abductive reasoning, as well as strictly formulated mathematical induction and deductive reasoning. Already in 1886 he saw that logical operations could be performed by electrical switching circuits. The same idea was used decades later for the production of digital computers.
What is pragmatism?
Pragmatism is a philosophical movement that originated in the United States of America in 1870. Pragmatism considers thoughts as a tool for predicting and solving problems and actions, and also rejects the idea that the human function of thought is associated with metaphysics and similar abstract things, as parallel reality and the influence of a higher mind on fate. Pragmatists argue that the truth is only that which gives practical useful results. Charles Pearce's pragmatism describes a āchanging universe,ā while idealists, realists, and Thomists (followers of Catholic thought) hold the view of an āunchanging universe.ā Pragmatism is a philosophy that contradicts all attempts to explain metaphysics and redefines any truth of a certain direction into a temporary consensus between people in the area under study.
What is semiotics?
Semiotics is the study of the meaning formation of signaling processes. This includes the study of the signs of semiotic processes, their indication, designation, similarity, analogy, allegory, metaphor and symbolism. This science explores the study of signs and symbols as part of communications. Unlike linguistics, semiotics also studies non-linguistic sign systems.
Semiotics by Professor Charles S. Pierce
Semiotics by Charles Pearce identifies a number of key concepts (concepts of signs, their meanings and sign relationship). He perfectly understood that this area of āāresearch should be a single science - semiotics. Therefore, Pierce defined the basic concepts of semiotics, here is its classification:
- Signs-icons: graphic signs in which a significant and signifying object have a single semantic validity. An example is the warning sign ācaution: childrenā, which depicts running children. This road sign encourages a decrease in speed on the road and is installed near comprehensive schools, kindergartens, youth sports sections (or creative), etc.
- Signs-indexes: signified and signifying objects (or actions) are interconnected as they distance in time or space. An example is the signs on the roads that give the traveler information about the name, direction and distance to the next settlement. Also, pictorial signs that illustrate, say, frowning eyebrows are considered an index sign, because here the emotional background of a person is transmitted (in this case, anger).
- Signs-symbols: the signified and the signifier are of a single character under the prism of a certain convection (we are talking about preliminary conventions). Here you can give an example of a road sign that illustrates an āinvertedā triangle. The transmitted meaning of the sign is āgive wayā, but its designation itself is in no way connected with the stimulating action, because it is just an inverted triangle. National symbolism falls under the same prism, where the depicted object is rhetorical for everyone. Symbols can be all words from existing languages, but imitation words (such as ācroakā, āmeowā, āgruntā, ārattleā and the like) fall into the list of exceptions.
Charles Pierce: biography
Born September 10, 1839 in Cambridge (Massachusetts) in the family of the famous American mathematician and astronomer Benjamin Pierce. Charles led an early privileged life: parents refused to discipline and raise their children for fear of crushing their personality. In addition, the academic and intellectual atmosphere of the family home, which was often visited by highly spiritual and important dignitaries, did not allow Pierce to choose a different path than the scientific one. Among the guests were often prominent mathematicians and scientists, poets, lawyers and politicians. In this environment, young Charles Pierce was able to maintain comfort and interest.
Pierce was the second of five children in the family. He had four talented brothers who also partially connected their lives with science and high ranks. James Mills Pierce (older brother) followed his father to Harvard University, where he began to study mathematics in depth.
Another brother, Herbert Henry Pearce, made an outstanding career in the Foreign Intelligence Service. The younger brother, Benjamin Mills Pearce, studied as an engineer and was successful in this area, but he died young. The talent of the brothers, especially Charles, is largely associated with the colossal intelligence and influence of their father, as well as with the general intellectual life atmosphere that surrounded them constantly.
Charles Pierce: Books, Scientific Papers
Pierce's popularity and reputation relies heavily on his series of scientific papers published in American scientific journals. His works were reviewed in the "American Academy of Arts and Sciences", in the "National Academy of Sciences" in the journal of speculative philosophy Popular Science Monthly. The scientific works of Charles Pierce Sanders in mathematics and philosophy are divided into two stages: published during life and after death.
Pierce Books During Life
- The book "Photometric studies" 1878. An 181-page monograph on the application of spectrographic methods of astronomy.
- The book "Research in the field of logic at the Johns Hopkins Institute" 1883. A collection of scientific papers by graduate students and doctors, including Charles Pierce himself, in the field of logic.
Major posthumous publications
Harvard University received many documents from Pierce's wife after his death (1914). About 1,650 unpublished manuscripts with a total of 100 thousand pages were found in his office. Pierce's first published anthology of articles was a one-volume book, entitled āChance, Love, and Logic: A Philosophical Essay.ā The work was edited by Morris Rafael Cohen in 1923. Later, other anthologies began to appear, the publications of which were in 1940, 1957, 1958, 1972, 1994 and 2009.
Most of Pierce's manuscripts have already been published, but there are some copies that the world does not know due to the unsatisfactory state of the documents.
- 1931-58: "A collection of articles by Charles Pierce Sanders" in 8 volumes. Here all his works are collected from 1860 to 1913. However, the most extensive and fruitful work begins in 1893. Initially, the articles were not structured and varied in volume, so an editorās hand was required for a more correct look. The first through sixth volumes were edited by Charles Hartshorn, and the seventh and eighth by Arthur Burke.
- 1975-87: āCharles Sanders Pierce: A Contribution to the Nationā - 4 volumes. This collection contains more than 300 reviews and articles of Pierce, which were partially published during his lifetime from 1869 to 1908. The collection of scientific papers was edited by Kenneth Lane Keener and James Edward Cook.
- 1976 - present: "New Elements of the Mathematics of Charles S. Pierce" - 5 volumes. Here are published Pierce's most productive work in mathematics. Editorial - Carolyn Eisel. The status of the project is not today āin developmentā.
- 1977 - present: āCorrespondence between C.S. Pierce and Victoria Welby from 1903 to 1912.ā
- 1982 - present: āThe Writings of Charles S. Pierce - Chronological Editionā. The first publication of the project was in 2010, but work continues to this day. The first 6 volumes published cover the life of a scientist from 1859 to 1889.
- 1985 - present: āThe History of the Prospect of Science of Pierce: History of Scienceā - 2 volumes Edited by Carolyn Eisel.
- 1992 - present: āReasoning on the logic of thingsā - lectures by Professor Pierce for the year 1898. Editorial: Kenneth Leine Kinner with comments by Hilary Putnam.
- 1992-98: Essential Peirce - 2 volumes. Important examples of the philosophical works of Charles Pierce. Edited by Nathan Hauser (1st volume) and Christian Klozel (2nd volume).
- 1997 - present: "Pragmatism as a principle and method of proper thinking." Pierce's lecture book on pragmatism at Harvard University in the form of a short educational publication. Editorial: Patricia Ann Turisi.
- 2010 - present: "Philosophy of Mathematics: Selected Works." Exclusive, previously unpublished, Pierce's work in mathematics. Editorial: Matthew Moore.
Contribution of the great scientist to science
Charles S. Pierce made a number of striking discoveries in formal logic, fundamental mathematics. Also, an American scientist is the founder of pragmatism and semiotics. Most of his scientific works were highly praised only after his death. The scientist died on April 19 in 1914.