Agreed. It's an excellent notion -- with maybe a nod to the arc being a bit stronger than any counter-currents. Fits in with continuity, fallibility and warrants inclusion in a notion of what Peirce is up to. It is realistic! Look at what's happening now.
amazon.com/author/stephenrose On Thu, Dec 14, 2017 at 8:36 AM, Gary Richmond <[email protected]> wrote: > Franklin, Gary f, list, > > You may be correct as most references to 'meliorism' I found were to James > or Dewey. > > Although I wouldn't make too much of it, Mats Bergman wrote a paper, > "Improving Our Habits: Peirce and Meliorism," in which he includes a > definition of 'meliorism' from the Century Dictionary which, he believes, > may be by Peirce. > > (1) “[the] improvement of society by regulated practical means: opposed to > the passive principle of both pessimism and optimism”; or (2) “[the] > doctrine that the world is neither the worst nor the best possible, but > that it is capable of improvement: a mean between theoretical pessimism and > optimism” > http://www.helsinki.fi/peirce/MC/papers/Bergman%20-% > 20Peirce%20and%20Meliorism.pdf > > > In a footnote he remarks that Francoise Latraverse suggested to that the > second definition especially seems altogether Peircean. > > I'm not sure where I got my sense that meliorism was a Peircean concept as > searches of the CP, EP, etc. have not yielded any instances of the word. I > haven't read much James, I must admit, but at one point I was reading a > great deal of Dewey and may have gotten the notion from him > > Be that as it may, I think that there is a great deal in Peirce which is > compatible with an attitude and philosophy of meliorism, that, for example, > wherever it is up to us to put our shoulder to some task towards improving > our human lot that we ought do that. > > Best, > > Gary R > > > [image: Gary Richmond] > > *Gary Richmond* > *Philosophy and Critical Thinking* > *Communication Studies* > *LaGuardia College of the City University of New York* > *718 482-5690 <(718)%20482-5690>* > > On Thu, Dec 14, 2017 at 6:44 AM, <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Franklin, I think you’re right about James; as for Peirce’s use of the >> term, all I can find is this bit from the Robin Catalogue: >> >> 953. [First and Second Conversazione] >> >> A. MS., n.p., n.d., pp. 1-8, with variants. >> >> The three views of knowledge: Epicurean, pessimistic, and melioristic. >> Second conversazione is on the idea of clearness. >> >> >> >> Gary f. >> >> >> >> *From:* [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] >> >> *Sent:* 13-Dec-17 22:57 >> >> Gary, >> >> >> >> I thought meliorism was a term introduced by William James, not CSP. I >> believe James discusses it in his latter Pragmatism lectures, and >> references his son as providing the term to him. It appears to have the >> same meaning that you say CSP ascribed to it. Did CSP also adopt this term? >> Where does he mention it? >> >> >> >> — Franklin >> >> >> >> Sent from my iPhone >> >> >> On Dec 12, 2017, at 11:17 PM, Gary Richmond <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >> Mary, list, >> >> >> >> Mary, if you're a clodhopper than I'm a bumpkin. But, of course, quite >> the opposite is the case, so I'm spared for yokeldom! >> >> >> >> More and more I hope that this forum can find ways, as you wrote, to help >> "newcomers to Peirce to feel welcome," and I personally am devising >> strategies to do more of that in the new year. For example, I am working >> with Laureano Battista (a NYC Semiotics Web member/organizer who is also a >> member of this forum), and bouncing off Joe Ransdell's original >> introduction on 'How the Forum Works' (which can be found on the Peirce-L >> page of Arisbe http://www.iupui.edu/~arisbe/PEIRCE-L/PEIRCE-L.HTM ) to >> develop a perhaps more "user friendly" introduction to the working of this >> forum. I am also planning a few 'pragmaticist' games for the new year (I >> won't say more on that topic yet, but I'll be soliciting help from you and >> others on this idea early in the year). >> >> >> >> But more to the present point, recently, in other threads, several forum >> members offered some very interesting questions which I thought were quite >> promising for further list discussion. I hope that some of those folks will >> start new threads with these questions, some of which I think ought appeal >> to "newcomers to Peirce" as well as to "the usual suspects." I point to >> this matter of creating new threads as it is possible for some very good >> ideas to get 'lost' in a thread introduced for some other purpose. So I >> hope those questions will yet be asked in threads with very specific >> Subject lines. >> >> >> >> You wrote: >> >> ML: What attracts me to Peirce is the awe I feel and the depth and >> breadth of his journey to understand and to believe in the movement of >> semiosis. It is makes so much sense. . . >> >> >> >> I agree that a kind of belief "in the movement of semiosis" does make >> much sense, and from my perspective, more sense than any other >> philosophical work since the 19th century (although there's *much* to >> admire elsewhere, including the work of Whitehead, Apel, some of the >> existentialists, Camus, Wittgenstein, as well as much contemporary work.) >> This is why I think some of the questions recently asked (but not answered) >> might provoke us to deeper reflections on how this profound and original >> philosophy of pragmaticism (and including all the cenoscopic sciences: >> phenomenology, theoretical esthetics/ethics/semiotic, as well as scientific >> metaphysics) might contribute something of substance to what Peirce refers >> to as meliorism, which is nothing more nor less than the belief that the >> world we live in can be made better by our very human, albeit, often sadly, >> "all too human" (Nietzsche), efforts. Pragmatism ought to have some very >> important to contribute to meliorism, and this was Peirce's belief. >> >> >> >> I see a commonality in your work relating Peircean perspectives to >> literature to Gene Halton's, and I think literature, as well as art, and >> music, etc., are all potentially fruitful directions for semiotics and >> pragmatism to be moving into (Gene is also, and perhaps primarily, a >> sociologist, and I recommend his books to everyone on this list, as >> pragmatism has a great deal to offer that field as well). We have artists >> and art theorists, architects, and practitioners and students of many >> disciplines on this list, and I hope to find ways of encouraging more of >> them to participate actively on the list in 2018. But, again, *lurkers >> are prized!* >> >> >> >> Meanwhile, the extraordinary work that Gary f has been doing in >> presenting the whole of the 1903 Lowell Lectures and, in my view, very >> useful commentary (even if one doesn't necessarily agree with all of it) >> presently remains my primary focus. >> >> >> >> Best, >> >> >> >> Gary R >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> [image: Gary Richmond] >> >> >> >> *Gary Richmond* >> >> *Philosophy and Critical Thinking* >> >> *Communication Studies* >> >> *LaGuardia College of the City University of New York* >> >> *718 482-5690 <(718)%20482-5690>* >> >> >> >> >> >> ----------------------------- >> PEIRCE-L subscribers: Click on "Reply List" or "Reply All" to REPLY ON >> PEIRCE-L to this message. PEIRCE-L posts should go to >> [email protected] . To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message not to PEIRCE-L >> but to [email protected] with the line "UNSubscribe PEIRCE-L" in the >> BODY of the message. More at http://www.cspeirce.com/peirce >> -l/peirce-l.htm . >> >> >> >> >> >> > > > ----------------------------- > PEIRCE-L subscribers: Click on "Reply List" or "Reply All" to REPLY ON > PEIRCE-L to this message. PEIRCE-L posts should go to > [email protected] . To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message not to PEIRCE-L > but to [email protected] with the line "UNSubscribe PEIRCE-L" in the > BODY of the message. More at http://www.cspeirce.com/peirce-l/peirce-l.htm > . > > > > > >
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