Let's put it this way and this is but a personal view. Without Neitzsche, some of whose stated values and positions are nonsensical or at least painfully familiar, I never would have sensed the mission to be a revaluer of values. That I try to be is due solely to my encounter with him. Without Peirce, I would never have perceived a whole universe of truth that far overshadows the nativist claptrap that he uttered and evidently believed. First in this universe is his is his threes and next his convincing case for realism. I could cite less than admirable things about numerous heroes of our time and all it would end up being would be proof that we are all a spectrum and that somewhere on each are spectrum of us there are things that are not noted merely because they are not known or no one cares or they have been hidden. And we should thank Peirce for both his fallibilism and his not infrequent iconoclastic asides that minimize if they do not trump the clear record that you aptly cite.
*ShortFormContent at Blogger* <http://shortformcontent.blogspot.com/> On Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 1:31 PM, Eugene Halton <[email protected]>wrote: > Dear Stephen et al., **** > > ** ** > > But what about this, a darker side of Peirce from a letter to > Lady Welby of December 28, 1908. Though against English liberalism (update > to today’s “neoliberalism”) as futile rationalism, Peirce’s alternative is > not a more inclusive democracy, but one in which people ought to be > enslaved, universal suffrage denied, labor organizations repressed. He > approves the “intelligent slaves” who enabled classical Greek to be “the > most perfect language ever spoken.” **** > > ** ** > > Peirce’s sheer blindness to the blood and depravity wrought by > American slavery, and which American Apartheid was continuing to inflict, to > what the unfettered emergent capitalism of what Mark Twain and Charles > Dudley Warner had termed “The Gilded Age” was effecting in spawning new > breeds of Aristocrats of Money and levels of social inequality, to the > repressive and killing work conditions that industrial capitalism was > wreaking, to the rights of women and minorities excluded then from voting to > be fully participant citizens, is just appalling: **** > > ** ** > > “Being a convinced Pragmaticist in Semeiotic, naturally and necessarily > nothing can appear to me sillier than rationalism; and folly in politics > cannot go further than English liberalism. The people ought to be enslaved; > only the slaveholders ought to practice the virtues that can alone maintain > their rule. England will find out too late that it has sapped the > foundations of culture. The most perfect language that ever was spoken was > classical Greek; and it is obvious that no people could have spoken it who > were not provided with plenty of intelligent slaves. As to us Americans who > had, at first, so much political sense, we always showed a disposition to > support what aristocracy we had; and we have constantly experienced, and > felt but too keenly, the ruinous effects of universal suffrage and weakly > exercised government. Here are the labor organizations, into whose hands we > are delivering the government, clamouring today for the ‘right’ to persecute > and kill people as they please. We are making them a ruling class; and > England is going to do the same thing” (Dec. 28, 1908. Hardwick, 1977: > 78-79).**** > > ** ** > > Peirce, C. S., and Welby-Gregory, Victoria (Lady Welby), *Semiotic and > Significs: The Correspondence between C. S. Peirce and Victoria Lady Welby > *, edited by Charles S. Hardwick with the assistance of James Cook, > Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis, IN, 1977 **** > > ** ** > > Gene**** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > ** ** > > *From:* C S Peirce discussion list [mailto:[email protected]] *On > Behalf Of *Stephen C. Rose > *Sent:* Wednesday, October 05, 2011 7:56 AM > *To:* [email protected] > *Subject:* Re: [peirce-l] “Some Leading Ideas of Peirce's Semiotic”**** > > ** ** > > ….Peirce like Nietzsche is a posthumous author and I do not believe he will > come to full flower save possibly in this century. When he does it will > most certainly be because he influenced the thinking behind the global > democratic revolution. **** > > --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to the PEIRCE-L > listserv. To remove yourself from this list, send a message to > [email protected] with the line "SIGNOFF PEIRCE-L" in the body > of the message. To post a message to the list, send it to > [email protected] --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to the PEIRCE-L listserv. To remove yourself from this list, send a message to [email protected] with the line "SIGNOFF PEIRCE-L" in the body of the message. To post a message to the list, send it to [email protected]
