Re: [peirce-l] The family of Benjamin Peirce
Dear Steven, There's a copy of the thesis on Benjamin Peirce by Jodielynn Field Kuhn at the PEP library (Benjamin Peirce: A Bibliographical Overview, 2000). The author did a very good job in terms of data and bibliography. It is a hundred pages of very useful information. In case you are interested, but unable to find it, I have a copy. I will need to scan it first though. Vitaly From: Steven Ericsson-Zenith ste...@iase.us To: PEIRCE-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2012 2:54 AM Subject: [peirce-l] The family of Benjamin Peirce Dear List, I have an increasing interest in Benjamin Peirce and his son James, Charles' elder brother. I am curious about Charles' relationship with his brother, who continued his father's work teaching mathematics at Harvard. I wonder about the relationship for a number of reasons, but it is primarily to fill in the gaps for me concerning Charles Peirce's intellectual life and the familial/social climate of the time. There is a strong indication in the literature that James was gay and potentially the author (Prof X) of a particularly powerful and interesting (in the sense of advanced and well-considered thinking) piece on the virtues of homosexuality (or at least the reasons why there should be no objection to it), and I note no disapproval or criticism of this by Charles or his father. Given Charles' hardships later in life I also wonder whether James (his brother) provided Charles with aid or property. And given the liberal nature of the family I wonder about their view of Charles' later marriage. I continue to see the roots of many of Charles' ideas in the work of his father, although their vocabulary and ways of speaking differ. Benjamin's Ideality In The Physical Sciences is an especially interesting read and I find myself revising my initial views concerning Charles' religious background, that I have previously considered naive from his own writings. Benjamin Peirce has an especially sophisticated sensibility for traditional religious concerns (Kierkegaardian almost) and the relationship with science, and he speaks eloquently about it. His view is certainly suggestive of Charles' unconsidered argument and in many ways his view is more sophisticated. Certainly his conception of God is not the anthropomorphic conception and it is compatible with Charles' view in that I would not expect Benjamin to object to the unconsidered argument. I am trying to decipher Benjamin's views on what I will call universal will. As the picture becomes more fleshed out, the family of Benjamin Peirce as a whole and Charles' place within it, leads me to expect that a fuller understanding of this family, and its combined intellectual life, is necessary for an understanding of Charles and his work. Does anyone have pointers for me or suggestions about where I can find more help with this? With respect, Steven -- Dr. Steven Ericsson-Zenith Institute for Advanced Science Engineering http://iase.info - You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to the PEIRCE-L listserv. To remove yourself from this list, send a message to lists...@listserv.iupui.edu with the line SIGNOFF PEIRCE-L in the body of the message. To post a message to the list, send it to PEIRCE-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU - You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to the PEIRCE-L listserv. To remove yourself from this list, send a message to lists...@listserv.iupui.edu with the line SIGNOFF PEIRCE-L in the body of the message. To post a message to the list, send it to PEIRCE-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
[peirce-l] a pragmatic approach to quantum theory
Since quantum theory has come up in a number of recent posts, I thought it apropos to mention that I just came across this notice in the British Journal of Philosophy of Science: for: Richard Healey Quantum Theory: A Pragmatist Approach Brit J Philos Sci 2012 : axr054v1-axr054 Irving H. Anellis, Ph.D. Visiting Research Associate Peirce Edition, Institute for American Thought 902 W. New York St. Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis Indianapolis, IN 46202-5159 USA URL: http://www.irvinganellis.info - You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to the PEIRCE-L listserv. To remove yourself from this list, send a message to lists...@listserv.iupui.edu with the line SIGNOFF PEIRCE-L in the body of the message. To post a message to the list, send it to PEIRCE-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
[peirce-l] Links to more Peirce MS images - GEP
List, I've added links at http://www.cspeirce.com/digitized.htm to pages leading to Peirce manuscript images Los manuscritos de C. S. Peirce http://www.unav.es/gep/MSCSPeirce.html at Grupo de Estudios Peirceanos. I've translated the Spanish annotations into English. This currently includes MSS: (year 1866) 732, (year 1873) 380 381, (years 1893-1914) 717, 1395, 865, 867, 732, 569, 599, 600, 1246, 7, 449, 776, 280, 1334, 339C, 339D, 792, 793, 283, 322, 200, 618, 634, 640, 654, 664, 670, 675, 676, (undated) 499, 801, 840, 866, 868, and Letters 67, 98, 181, 261, 387, 390. I hadn't realized how much Jaime Nubiola and his colleagues had posted there. Way to go, G.E.P.! There are also some transcriptions and Spanish translations of the manuscripts. I know that there's still more to dig up at G.E.P. Best, Ben - You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to the PEIRCE-L listserv. To remove yourself from this list, send a message to lists...@listserv.iupui.edu with the line SIGNOFF PEIRCE-L in the body of the message. To post a message to the list, send it to PEIRCE-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
[peirce-l] C.S. Peirce • A Guess at the Riddle
Peircers, Here is a passage from Peirce that I find telling and personally compelling, for reasons I hope to tell later on. It often comes up in explaining Thirdness as it naturally arises in physics, and more generally in systems theory. Selections from C.S. Peirce, “A Guess at the Riddle”, CP 1.354–416 [quote] 359. First and Second, Agent and Patient, Yes and No, are categories which enable us roughly to describe the facts of experience, and they satisfy the mind for a very long time. But at last they are found inadequate, and the Third is the conception which is then called for. The Third is that which bridges over the chasm between the absolute first and last, and brings them into relationship. We are told that every science has its Qualitative and its Quantitative stage; now its qualitative stage is when dual distinctions,— whether a given subject has a given predicate or not,— suffice; the quantitative stage comes when, no longer content with such rough distinctions, we require to insert a possible half-way between every two possible conditions of the subject in regard to its possession of the quality indicated by the predicate. Ancient mechanics recognized forces as causes which produced motions as their immediate effects, looking no further than the essentially dual relation of cause and effect. That is why it could make no progress with dynamics. The work of Galileo and his successors lay in showing that forces are accelerations by which a state of velocity is gradually brought about. The words cause and effect still linger, but the old conceptions have been dropped from mechanical philosophy; for the fact now known is that in certain relative positions bodies undergo certain accelerations. Now an acceleration, instead of being like a velocity a relation between two successive positions, is a relation between three; so that the new doctrine has consisted in the suitable introduction of the conception of Threeness. On this idea, the whole of modern physics is built. The superiority of modern geometry, too, has certainly been due to nothing so much as to the bridging over of the innumerable distinct cases with which the ancient science was encumbered; and we may go so far as to say that all the great steps in the method of science in every department have consisted in bringing into relation cases previously discrete. [/quote] — Charles S. Peirce, “A Guess at the Riddle”, MS 909 (1887–88). • First published in CP 1.354–416. Reprinted in EP1, 245–279. • http://inquiryintoinquiry.com/2012/03/21/c-s-peirce-%E2%80%A2-a-guess-at-the-riddle/ Regards, Jon -- academia: http://independent.academia.edu/JonAwbrey inquiry list: http://stderr.org/pipermail/inquiry/ mwb: http://www.mywikibiz.com/Directory:Jon_Awbrey oeiswiki: http://www.oeis.org/wiki/User:Jon_Awbrey word press blog 1: http://jonawbrey.wordpress.com/ word press blog 2: http://inquiryintoinquiry.com/ - You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to the PEIRCE-L listserv. To remove yourself from this list, send a message to lists...@listserv.iupui.edu with the line SIGNOFF PEIRCE-L in the body of the message. To post a message to the list, send it to PEIRCE-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
