Freeman, Eugene, ed. The Relevance of Charles Peirce. La Salle, IL: Monist Library of Philosophy, 1983.

Abstract

Charles Peirce, now universally claimed as America's greatest philosopher, and considered by many to be one of the great philosophers of all time, was virtually unrecognized and unpublished during his lifetime. However, one of the few of his contemporaries who did appreciate his genius was Dr. Paul Carus, editor of The Monist from 1890-1919. Carus urged Peirce to publish his papers in The Monist, and the resulting now classic series of papers that Peirce wrote is today a landmark in the history of American philosophy. It is thus fitting that the present collection of essays on Peirce, many of which first appeared in The Monist in 1980 and 1982, along with several which were published elsewhere, should now be published as a volume in the Monist Library of Philosophy. The spectrum of Peirce's interests and competence is truly remarkable. While the greater volume of his writing is to be found in the areas of logic, the philosophy of mathematics and of natural science, and the theory of signs, no one can afford to ignore his inquiries into the issues of metaphysics, ethics, religion, aesthetics, and history. The extent of Peirce's concern to obtain a synoptic vision of things is easily underestimated if one is interested in what he had to say only in some particular area. Peirce himself was bent on laying hold of the interconnectedness of all things. The essays in this volume provide ample evidence of the breadth, originality, and vitality of Peirce's thought, and at the same time highlight the power of his basic notions for illuminating current philosophical issues. As these essays make clear, it is a matter of the utmost importance that Peirce has finally emerged from the shadows to assume his rightful place not only in the development of American philosophy but also in that wider dialectic of human thought which knows no geographical boundaries.