DOCSLIB.ORG

Open Finalsubmission.Pdf

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Open Finalsubmission.Pdf The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School “EVOLUTIONARY LOVE” IN THEORY AND PRACTICE A Thesis in Philosophy by Michael J. Ventimiglia Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2001 We approve the thesis of Michael J. Ventimiglia Date of Signature ___________________________________ ______________ Carl R. Hausman Professor Emeritus of Philosophy Thesis Co-Advisor Co-Chair of Committee ___________________________________ ______________ Douglas R. Anderson Associate Professor of Philosophy Thesis Co-Advisor Co-Chair of Committee ___________________________________ ______________ Vincent Colapietro Professor of Philosophy ___________________________________ ______________ Daniel Conway Professor of Philosophy ____________________________________ ______________ Robert Scott Kretchmar Professor of Exercise and Sport Science ____________________________________ ______________ John J. Stuhr Professor of Philosophy Head of Department of Philosophy iii Abstract The cosmology of Charles Peirce is amongst the least celebrated aspects of his thought. It is typically considered far too anthropomorphic to be a serious contribution to our understanding of the evolution of reality. While this anthropomorphism may disqualify the cosmology from serious scientific consideration, it is quite possible that the cosmology does offer philosophical insights about the very human experience that inspired it. In this dissertation I offer a “reclaiming” of the Peircean cosmology. My intent is to look to the Peircean cosmology not for insights about the growth of the cosmos as such, but for insights about the growing self. Specifically, the dissertation takes cue from Peirce’s 1893 essay “Evolutionary Love” which claims that “growth comes only from love” or Christian agape. The majority of the dissertation is dedicated to a historically and biologically informed examination of the relation between agape and growth in Peirce’s philosophy. My hope, however, is to not only to clarify the specifics of this relationship in theory, but also to apply Peirce's theoretical insights to an experientially persuasive account of the growing self. In the final chapter I offer a odel of personal growth in which "existential abduction" is understood to inaugurate a purposeful but undetermined development of the self's ends or desires. In the course of the investigation, I will offer interpretive suggestions about the nature of Peircean growth through habit-taking, the importance of iv feeling and sentiment in Peirce’s philosophy, and the relationship of agape to eros in the Peircean version of agapastic love. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements. vii Introduction: Reclaiming the Cosmology. 1 Chapter One: “Evolutionary Love” in Context . 14 I. Theological Context . 15 II. Historical Context . 33 Chapter Two: The Growth of Mind . 45 I. Habit-Taking in Inquiry . 47 Abduction in Inquiry . 52 Deduction in Inquiry . 62 Induction in Inquiry . 66 Summary . 68 II. Habit-Taking in Physiology . 70 Physiological Abduction . 72 Physiological Deduction. 73 Physiological Induction . 74 III. Habit-Taking in the Cosmos . 75 Cosmic Abduction. 80 Cosmic Deduction . 89 Cosmic Induction . 90 Chapter Three: Three Models of Growth . 92 I. Darwin and Tychastic Evolution . 95 Random Variation . 104 Selection . 114 II. The Varieties of Anancasm . .116 III. Lamarck, Habit-taking, and Agapasm . 121 Lamarck and Habit-Taking . 124 Lamarck and Agape . 130 IV. A Peircean Theory of Agape . 134 Agape and the Development of Eros . 135 An Historical Precedent . 140 vi Chapter Four: Growth and Love in the Self. 145 I. The Growth of the Self . 145 Existential Abduction . 150 Existential Deduction . 162 Existential Induction . 164 II. Fear and Growth . 166 Fear of Abduction . 169 Fear of Deduction . .. .170 Fear of Induction . 171 III. Three Models of Personal Growth . 173 Tychastic Evolution of the Self . 175 Anancastic Evolution of the Self . .183 Agapastic Evolution of the Self . .189 Agape and the Fear of Existential Abduction . 190 Agape and the Fear of Existential Deduction . 192 Agape and the Fear of Existential Induction . 193 Conclusion . .196 References . 205 vii Acknowledgements I would like to begin by thanking Joseph Flay, John Stuhr and the Pennsylvania State University Department of Philosophy for the consistent and generous support I have received in every aspect of my graduate career. The Penn State Philosophy Department is a wonderful place to learn. I am particularly grateful to Daniel Conway, who, in his capacity as Graduate Chair during the years in which this dissertation was written, has worked magic for me on more occasions than I can recall. I would also like to thank Vincent Colapietro, a friend and mentor, who, since my days at Fordham University, has been instrumental in the furthering of most every aspect of my intellectual and professional career. To both Carl Hausman and Douglas Anderson, mere written or spoken gratitude seems woefully inadequate. Professors Hausman and Anderson have extended themselves not only far beyond what is required but well beyond what is reasonable. I am enormously indebted to both. The value of Professor Hausman’s friendship to me is rivaled only by the value of his careful and insightful commentary on every thought, no matter how undeveloped, that I have shared with him. Professor Anderson has taught me more from his person than I will ever be able to cull from pages in a book. Without Professor Anderson I would not have written this dissertation. I am grateful to both my co-mentors for their patience and their tolerance. Finally, I am most grateful to my parents, my family and my friends, unmerited gifts that are my finest achievement. 1 Introduction: Reclaiming the Cosmology It looks to me as though the investigation we are undertaking is no ordinary thing, but one for a man who sees sharply. Since we're not clever men . we should make this kind of investigation of it. If someone had, for example, ordered men who don't see very sharply to read little letters from afar and then someone had the thought that the same letters were somewhere else also but bigger and in a bigger place, I suppose it would look like a god send to be able to consider the little ones after having read these first, if, of course, they do happen to be the same.1 The macrocosm and the microcosm in The Republic do, of course, "happen to be the same," at least in an essential respect. The inference from the one to the other is justified by the reality of an Idea of justice, by that which makes justice justice in both the city and the soul. And so Socrates goes on to construct the perfectly just polis by which he infers, analogously, the structure of the perfectly just soul. The strategy yields a compelling account of the harmonious soul. Socrates looks to the macrocosm and learns about the human. In the Peircean cosmology we have a macrocosm of significantly larger scope. The cosmology was intended by Peirce to be a unified theory of all reality--mental and physical, possible, actual and general--with implications for every branch of human 1 Plato, The Republic, 268c7. 2 learning. Indeed, it would, Peirce hoped, be in its book-long formulation “one of the births of time” (1.354 fn.1).2 It has, in fact, turned out be perhaps the least celebrated aspect of this thought, famously referred to as the “black sheep or white elephant” of Peirce’s philosophy by W.B. Gallie in 1966.3 The considered, though not unanimous, verdict on Peirce’s cosmology is that it is far too anthropomorphic a description of reality to be thought of as a serious scientific hypothesis.4 Because of its infusion of final causality, feeling and consciousness into the physical world, it has alienated those interested in a scientifically respectable “Unified Theory of the Universe.”5 But while these features of the cosmology have been a distraction for those seeking a scientific thesis per se, they can only be an occasion for intrigue for those of us interested in the human as such. The phenomenon that is writ large across the growing anthropomorphic Peircean cosmos is, after all, human growth. And so, with a strategy similar to that of Socrates, I suggest that we consider looking to the Peircean macrocosm for wisdom about the microcosm. This dissertation offers a “reclaiming” of the anthropomorphic Peircean cosmology. It attempts to take back what is ours. It seeks to apply Peirce’s cosmological insights about evolution and love to our everyday lived experience of human growth. 2 References, when possible, will be to the Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce in the customary fashion of volume and paragraph number. 3 W.B. Gallie, Peirce and Pragmatism, p. 216. 4 Not all scholars are in complete agreement. See, for example, Janice Staab’s Agape: Peirce's Abduction Concerning the Growth of Intelligibility, especially Chapter Five. 5 The phrase from the Stephen Hawking’s “A Unified Theory of the Universe Would Be the Ultimate Triumph of Human Reason,” as quoted by John K. Sheriff, Charles Peirce’s Guess at the Riddle, p. xvi. 3 Our main focus will be Peirce’s 1893 essay “Evolutionary Love,” in which Peirce considers the claim that “growth comes only from love,” or agape (6.289). In “Evolutionary Love” Peirce suggests that “growth by habit-taking”--a theory of growth formulated in various contexts throughout his intellectual career--is essentially similar in structure to the “formula” of growth implicit in agape (6.289). Our task below will be to clarify this relationship between agape and growth and to apply what is learned in theory to our experience of love and growth in the self. My intent is to provide a careful analysis of “Evolutionary Love” so that Peirce’s claims about growth and love-- writ large in the cosmology--can be reclaimed and subsequently applied to the growing self. My interest is therefore “Evolutionary Love” in both theory and practice.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • And Peirce's Synechism
    Elective Metaphysical Affi nities: Emerson’s “Natural History of Intellect” and Peirce’s Synechism Afi nidades Eletivas Metafísicas: A “História Natural do Intelecto” de Emerson e o Sinequismo de Peirce David A. Dilworth Philosophy Department State University of New York at Stony Brook – USA [email protected] Abstract: The paper suggests that Peirce’s late-phase metaphysical system af- termathed Emerson’s basic philosophical ideas elaborated over four decades before him. Peirce, with characteristic brilliance, transformed Emerson’s own luminous ideas into his categorial elaborations of abduction, cosmogonic synechism, universal semiosis, and the like. To illustrate this process of transformation, the paper provides a running synopsis of Emerson’s last signifi cant writing, “The Natural History of Intellect” (1870), which was ori- ginally part of a team-taught lecture series at Harvard that Emerson shared with six others, one of whom was the young C. S. Peirce. The synopsis evidences that virtually all of Peirce’s major metaphysical tenets had their precedent in Emerson. Among other places, Peirce acknowledged Emerson’s infl uence (together with that of Schelling) in his 1892 essay, “The Law of Mind.” Even before that, he referenced Emerson’s poem “The Sphinx” in his “A Guess at the Riddle” of 1887-88, the turning-point in Peirce’s career towarde metaphysical speculation. Peirce’s conscious awareness of Emerson’s philososphy and poetry traces back to many sources (including Emerson’s long friendship with his father, Benjamin Peirce). The elective affi nity be- tween his and Emerson’s views allows us to appreciate that the two authors forged a central strain of idealistic-cum-realistic metaphysical thinking that framed the later Pragmatisms of James and Dewey, among others.
    [Show full text]
  • Peircean Cosmogony's Symbolic Agapistic Self-Organization As an Example of the Influence of Eastern Philosophy on Western Thinking
    Peircean Cosmogony's Symbolic Agapistic Self-organization as an Example of the Influence of Eastern Philosophy on Western Thinking Brier, Søren Document Version Accepted author manuscript Published in: Progress in Biophysics & Molecular Biology DOI: 10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2017.09.010 Publication date: 2017 License CC BY-NC-ND Citation for published version (APA): Brier, S. (2017). Peircean Cosmogony's Symbolic Agapistic Self-organization as an Example of the Influence of Eastern Philosophy on Western Thinking. Progress in Biophysics & Molecular Biology, (131), 92-107. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2017.09.010 Link to publication in CBS Research Portal General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us ([email protected]) providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 02. Oct. 2021 Peircean Cosmogony's Symbolic Agapistic Self-organization as an Example of the Influence of Eastern Philosophy on Western Thinking Søren Brier Journal article (Accepted manuscript) CITE: Brier, S. (2017). Peircean Cosmogony's Symbolic Agapistic Self-organization as an Example of the Influence of Eastern Philosophy on Western Thinking. Progress in Biophysics & Molecular
    [Show full text]
  • Peirce's Philosophical Project from Chance To
    PEIRCE’S PHILOSOPHICAL PROJECT FROM CHANCE TO EVOLUTIONARY LOVE EL PROYECTO FILOSÓFICO DE PEIRCE DESDE EL AZAR HASTA EL AMOR EVOLUTIVO JULIANA Acosta LÓPEZ DE MESA Southern Illinois University, USA. [email protected] RECIBIDO EL 21 DE SEPTIEMBRE DE 2014, APROBADO EL 25 DE OCTUBRE DE 2014 ABSTRACT RESUMEN This paper aims at presenting Peirce’s El presente artículo busca presentar el development of his theory of tychism in desarrollo de la teoría peirceana del relation to his conception of evolution. tiquismo en relación con su concepción I claim that Peirce’s evolutionary de la teoría evolutiva. Aquí sostengo philosophy reaches a step further in the que la filosofía evolutiva de Peirce da explanation of the world than do the un paso más allá en la explicación de la philosophical projects that preceded it. constitución general del cosmos, si se For instance, Peirce’s theory of evolution la compara con los proyectos filosóficos solved the problems of Aristotle’s division que le preceden. Esto se puede ver, por of the world, rejects Spencer’s vision of a ejemplo, en que la teoría evolutiva de deterministic evolution, and complements Peirce logra resolver los problemas creados Darwin’s theory of evolution based merely por la división del mundo hecha por on chance and struggle. For this purpose, I Aristóteles, rechaza la visión determinista shall show that in order to give a complete de la evolución propuesta por Spencer, e account of the uniqueness of Peirce’s incluso complementa la teoría darwinista philosophical project it is necessary to de la evolución basada meramente en el understand his teleology in relationship azar y la lucha de las especies.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction the Period from the Spring of 1890 Into the Summer Of
    Introduction The period from the spring of 1890 into the summer of 1892 was a time of emotional turmoil for Peirce, a time of rash ventures and dashed hopes that would culminate in a transforming experience and a new sense of purpose.1 In the decade following the death of his father in 1880, Peirce suffered a number of life-changing defeats, including the loss of his teaching appointment at Johns Hopkins University and the stripping away of his leadership in gravity determinations for the U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey. Peirce’s marriage in 1883 to his reputed mistress, the mysterious Juliette Froissy Pourtalais, and his ill- considered attempt to introduce her openly into his social circles, brought a rude end to his way of life up to that time. In April 1887, Charles and Juliette left New York for Milford, Pennsylvania, where they hoped to find acceptance in Milford’s small but thriving French community. In the spring of 1890, as the period of the present volume was about to begin, Peirce helped organize a debate in the pages of The New York Times on the soundness of Herbert Spencer’s evolutionary philosophy and he signed his contributions with the pseudonym “Outsider,” reflecting his increasing estrangement from mainstream society. At the age of fifty, Peirce had been pushed from center stage and his native sense of entitlement had been crushed. Peirce’s feeling of exclusion and disadvantage intensified during these years so that by May 1892, writing again as the Outsider, he would rail against the “politico-economical deification of selfishness” and its anti-Christian corrupting influence on society (see sel.
    [Show full text]
  • Jamesian Free Will, the Two-Stage Model of William James ______
    JAMESIAN FREE WILL, THE TWO-STAGE MODEL OF WILLIAM JAMES __________________________________________________________________ BOB DOYLE ABSTRACT Research into two-stage models of “free will” – first “free” random generation of alternative possibilities, followed by “willed” adequately determined decisions consistent with character, values, and desires – suggests that William James was in 1884 the first of a dozen philosophers and scientists to propose such a two-stage model for free will. We review the later work to establish James’s priority. By limiting chance to the generation of alternative possibilities, James was the first to overcome the standard two-part argument against free will, i.e., that the will is either determined or random. James gave it elements of both, to establish freedom but preserve responsibility. We show that James was influenced by Darwin’s model of natural selection, as were most recent thinkers with a two-stage model. In view of James’s famous decision to make his first act of freedom a choice to believe that his will is free, it is most fitting to celebrate James’s priority in the free will debates by naming the two-stage model – first chance, then choice -“Jamesian” free will. THE DECLINE OF DETERMINISM In the nineteenth century, according to historians of science1 and philosopher Ian Hacking2, there was a “rise in statistical thinking” and an “erosion of determinism.” The strict physical determinism implied by Isaac Newton’s classical mechanics was giving way to the statistical mechanics of physicists James Clerk Maxwell and Ludwig Boltzmann, who assumed that gases were composed of atoms and molecules moving at random and following statistical laws.
    [Show full text]
  • The 2014 Charles S. Peirce International Centennial Congress Peirce 2014: Invigorating Philosophy for the 21St Century
    The Charles S. Peirce Society and the Charles S. Peirce Foundation present The 2014 Charles S. Peirce International Centennial Congress Peirce 2014: Invigorating Philosophy for the 21st Century Expanded Program (with Abstracts) Last Updated Wednesday 16 July, 1 p.m. University of Massachusetts Lowell July 16-19 In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the death of Charles S. Peirce Peirce Centennial Congress (July 2014) Updated 7/16, 1 p.m.: 2 Note to the Reader The primary purpose of this expanded program is to provide Congress attendees with abstracts of the papers to be presented; we also list errata in the printed (hard copy) program that came to light since that document went to press. Every effort has been made to ensure consistency of this expanded program with the printed program. In the event (unlikely, we hope!) that the two programs contradict one another, the printed program should be taken as authoritative, except for the errata noted below. We hope that this expanded program will help you to make the most of your time at the Peirce Centennial Congress. Should further updates be necessary, a modified version of this document will be posted on the Congress website, with an indication of the most recent revision date on the title page, and in the running head. Rosa Mayorga & Matthew Moore Co-Chairs, Program Committee Contents Errata in Printed (Hard Copy) Program: 3 Conference Schedule: 4 Concurrent Sessions A (Wed. 1 p.m.-2:30 p.m.): 8 Concurrent Sessions B (Wed. 2:45 p.m.-4:15 p.m.): 11 Concurrent Sessions C (Thu.
    [Show full text]
  • Philosophy of Mathematics: Selected Writings
    Philosophy Peirce The philosophy of mathematics plays a hilosophy of Peirce’s most vital role in the mature philosophy of Charles s. Peirce. Peirce received rigorous P importa-nt mathematical training from his father and Ma-thema-tic his philosophy carries on in decidedly philosophy Selected Writings writings on the mathematical and symbolic veins. For S Peirce, math was a philosophical tool and philosophy of many of his most productive ideas rest firmly on the foundation of mathematical cha-rles S. Peirce ma-thema-tics principles. This volume collects Peirce’s most important writings on the subject, many appearing in print for the first time. “Focuses on the major Peirce’s determination to understand writings Peirce produced matter, the cosmos, and “the grand design” of the universe remain relevant that are of greatest for contemporary students of science, significance for a correct technology, and symbolic logic. of appreciation of his larger Charles s. PeirCe (1839–1914) Ma-thema-ti was one of america’s most prolific philosophical agenda.” philosophers. he is noted for his —JosePh W. Dauben, contributions to logic, mathematics, City university oF neW york science, and semiotics. MattheW e. Moore is associate Professor of Philosophy at brooklyn College. he is editor of New Essays on Peirce’s Mathematical Philosophy. c Selections from the Writings of Cha-rles S. Peirce s PeirCe Edition ProJeCt INDIANA University Press Bloomington & Indianapolis www.iupress.indiana.edu INDIANA Edited by Ma-tthew E. Moore 1-800-842-6796 Phil of Mathematics MECH.indd 1 6/30/10 10:04 AM Beings of Reason.book Page i Wednesday, June 2, 2010 6:06 PM Philosophy of Mathematics Beings of Reason.book Page ii Wednesday, June 2, 2010 6:06 PM Beings of Reason.book Page iii Wednesday, June 2, 2010 6:06 PM Philosophy of Mathematics Selected Writings Charles S.
    [Show full text]
  • Peirce's Continuum ––––––––
    PEIRCE’S CONTINUUM A METHODOLOGICAL AND MATHEMATICAL APPROACH –––––––– FERNANDO ZALAMEA CONTENTS Chapter I. Genericity, reflexivity, modality I.1. Cantor’s analytical object............................................................... 3 I.2. Peirce’s synthetical concept............................................................. 7 I.3. Genericity and supermultitudeness................................................. 10 I.4. Reflexivity and inextensibility.......................................................... 13 I.5. Modality and plasticity..................................................................... 15 I.6. The local methods............................................................................. 18 Chapter II. Some XXth Century Mathematical Perspectives II.1. The primordial continuum................................................................ 30 II.2. The large set-theoretic continuum ................................................... 35 II.3. The category-theoretic continuum.................................................... 38 II.4. The sheaf continuum......................................................................... 40 Chapter III. Architectonics of Pragmaticism III.1. Five arches of Peirce’s architectonics............................................ 48 III.2. The continuum and Peirce’s architectonics ................................... 60 Chapter IV. Existential Graphs and Proofs of Pragmaticism IV.1. Existential graphs reflections inside Peirce’s architectonics........... 70 IV.2. A local proof of
    [Show full text]
  • Peirce on the Passions: the Role of Instinct, Emotion, and Sentiment in Inquiry and Action Robert J
    University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 11-12-2008 Peirce on the Passions: The Role of Instinct, Emotion, and Sentiment in Inquiry and Action Robert J. Beeson University of South Florida Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the American Studies Commons Scholar Commons Citation Beeson, Robert J., "Peirce on the Passions: The Role of Instinct, Emotion, and Sentiment in Inquiry and Action" (2008). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/134 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Peirce on the Passions: The Role of Instinct, Emotion, and Sentiment in Inquiry and Action by Robert J. Beeson A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Co-Major Professor: Martin R. Schönfeld, Ph.D. Co-Major Professor: Roy C. Weatherford, Ph.D. Sidney Axinn, Ph.D. Charles B. Guignon, Ph.D. Stephen P. Turner, Ph.D. Date of Approval: November 12, 2008 Keywords: mind, sign, self, consciousness, pragmatism, synechism, habit, belief, self-control, community © Copyright 2008, Robert J. Beeson Dedication In Memory of Willis H. Truitt Acknowledgments I wish to recognize several people, without whose contributions this dissertation would not have been completed. I would like to thank Kelly A.
    [Show full text]
  • The Intelligibility of Peirce's Metaphysics of Objective Idealism
    The Intelligibility of Peirce’s Metaphysics of Objective Idealism A Inteligibilidade da Metafísica do Idealismo Objetivo de Peirce Nicholas Guardiano Department of Philosophy Southern Illinois University Carbondale [email protected] Abstract: The paper critically explores the meaning and intelligibility of Peirce’s theory of objective idealism as found in his papers of the Monist series (1891–3) beginning with “Architecture of Theories”. The grand idea of Peirce’s mature philosophical system proposes an epistemological realism and an idealist metaphysics. The paper primarily focuses on the latter, which expresses a worldview that conceives mind as the primordial or fundamen- tal reality of nature. By analyzing Peirce’s metaphysics in contrast to the alternative versions of Cartesian dualism, neutralism, and materialism, and by connecting it to his cosmogony, phenomenology, and physiology, the tenability of the primordiality of mind is defended as “the one intelligible theory” for explaining evolution, variety, human consciousness, and other observed facts of the world. Key words: Peirce. Objective idealism. Idealist metaphysics. Epistemological realism. Emerson. New England Transcendentalism. Intelligibility. Monist series. Evolutionary cosmology. Tychism. Primordiality of mind. Feeling. Resumo: O artigo explora criticamente o sentido e inteligibilidade da teoria do idealismo objetivo de Peirce conforme encontrada em seus artigos da série Monist (1891-93), começando com “Arquitetura das Teorias”. A grande ideia do sistema filosófico maduro
    [Show full text]
  • Appendix A: Perspectives on Peirce
    Appendix A: Perspectives on Peirce Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914), pronounced ‘purse,’ was an American logi- cian, scientist, mathematician, and philosopher of the first rank. His profound insights and writings spanned a half-century, and cover topics ranging from the nature of knowledge and epistemology to metaphysics and cosmology. Well known in the Americas and Europe early in his career, his foibles, and challenges to social orthodoxies, led to a precipitous decline in his fortunes, such that he died nearly penniless and unable to publish. Still, Peirce had a deep influence on many leading thinkers of his time, and as transcription and publishing of his voluminous writings move to completion, an influence that will continue for generations. My first attraction to Peirce began with my professional interests in the semantic Web.1 My earliest exposure to the semantic Web kept drawing my attention to ques- tions of symbolic knowledge representation (KR). Like the genetic language of DNA in biology, my thought has been that there must be better (more ‘truthful’) ways of representing knowledge and information in digital form. My sense is that syntax or specific language is not the key, but that the basic building blocks of gram- mar and primitives hold that key. We further need a set of primitives well suited to natural language understanding, since humanity embodies so much of its cultural information in text. Structured data, such as from databases, is not an appropriate starting point; we critically need means to represent natural language. In Peirce, I have found the guide for those interests. I have maintained throughout this book that Peirce is the greatest thinker ever in the realm of knowledge representation.
    [Show full text]
  • Signifying Nature: Semeiosis As the Foundation of Post-Critical Cosmology in Charles S
    Signifying Nature: Semeiosis as the Foundation of Post-Critical Cosmology in Charles S. Peirce A thesis submitted to Goldsmiths University of London in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Chrysoula Sdrolia April 2014 Declaration of Authorship I, Chrysoula Sdrolia, declare that the thesis entitled Signifying Nature: Semeiosis as the Foundation of Post-Critical Cosmology in Charles S. Peirce and the work presented in the thesis are both my own, and have been generated by me as the result of my own original research. I confirm that: • this work was done wholly or mainly while in candidature for a research degree at this University; • where any part of this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree or any other qualification at this University or any other institution, this has been clearly stated; • where I have consulted the published work or others, this is always clearly attributed; • where I have quoted the work of others, the source is always given. With the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely my own work; • I have acknowledged all main sources of help; • Where the thesis is based on work done by myself jointly with others, I have made clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself; • none of this work has been published before submission. Signed: Date: To my dear parents Acknowledgements I am grateful to the Greek State Scholarship Foundation (IKY) for having funded this thesis and especially to Ms. Chryssanna Metaxa for her kind assistance all these years. Of all the people, whose companionship and support have made this work possible, I first of all wish to thank my parents for having taught me to stand by my convictions, for instilling in me the love of learning, and for their unflinching faith in my abilities when I doubted myself.
    [Show full text]