Dear list,
I have been accused of criticizing list culture. But it can be good to be self-critical when it suits us to be so. “It rather annoys me to be told that there is anything original in my three categories; for if they have not, however confusedly, been recognized by men since men began to think, that *condemns them at once*” “..for long time is required to ripen the fruit. *They are no inventions of mine*. Were they so, that would be sufficient to condemn them.” If Peirce did not invent his Categories, then who? Best, Jerry R On Sun, Dec 17, 2017 at 2:06 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Continuing from Lowell Lecture 3.5, https://fromthepage.com/ > jeffdown1/c-s-peirce-manuscripts/ms-464-465-1903-lowell-lecture-iii-3rd- > draught/display/13896 > > > > Those of you, ladies and gentlemen, who are interested in philosophy, as > most of us are, more or less, would do well to get as clear notions of the > three elements of Firstness, Secondness, and Thirdness as you can. > > > > [CP 1.521] Very wretched must be the notion of them that can be conveyed > in one lecture. They must grow up in the mind, under the hot sun-shine of > hard thought, daily, bright, well-focussed, and well aimed thought; and you > must have patience, for long time is required to ripen the fruit. They are > no inventions of mine. Were they so, that would be sufficient to condemn > them. Confused notions of these elements appear in the first infancy of > philosophy, and they have never entirely been forgotten. Their fundamental > importance is noticed in the beginning of Aristotle's *De Caelo,* where > it is said that the Pythagoreans knew of them. > > > > [522] In Kant they come out with an approach to lucidity. For Kant > possessed in a high degree all seven of the mental qualifications of a > philosopher, > 1st, the ability to discern what is before one's consciousness; > 2nd, Inventive originality; > 3rd, Generalizing power; > 4th, Subtlety; > 5th, Critical severity and sense of fact; > 6th, Systematic procedure; > 7th, Energy, diligence, persistency, and exclusive devotion to > philosophy. > > > > [523] But Kant had not the slightest suspicion of the inexhaustible > intricacy of the fabric of conceptions, which is such that I do not flatter > myself that I have ever analyzed a single idea into its constituent > elements. > > > > [524] Hegel, in some respects the greatest philosopher that ever lived, > had a somewhat juster notion of this complication, though an inadequate > notion, too. For if he had seen what the state of the case was, he would > not have attempted in one lifetime to cover the vast field that he > attempted to clear. But Hegel was lamentably deficient in that 5th > requisite of critical severity and sense of fact. He brought out three > elements much more clearly. But the element of Secondness, of *hard fact,* > is not accorded its due place in his system; and in a lesser degree the > same is true of Firstness. After Hegel wrote, there came fifty years that > were remarkably fruitful in all the means for attaining that 5th > requisite. Yet Hegel's followers, instead of going to work to reform their > master's system, and to render his statement of it obsolete, as every true > philosopher must desire that his disciples should do, only proposed, at > best, some superficial changes without replacing at all the rotten material > with which the system was built up. > > > > [525] I shall not inflict upon you any account of my own labors. Suffice > it to say that my results have afforded me great aid in the study of logic. > > > > > > http://gnusystems.ca/Lowell3.htm }{ Peirce’s Lowell Lectures of 1903 > > > > > ----------------------------- > 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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