Re: [PEIRCE-L] Brief note on the passing of V. Tejera at 95 years

[Gary Richmond]

Atila, List,

Please pardon my delay in responding to your generous note on Tejera's work
available digitally and in print. I've been inordinately busy these past
few weeks, so for now just a few inter-laced comments. You wrote:


AB: The 3 main journals I found his works on Peirce were *Transactions of
CSP Society, American Journal of Semiotics*, and *Semiotische Berichte*.  I
was unable to find the digital versions today, but I will try to get them
out this fall (I work from hardcopy).

Because of copyright restrictions, we cannot place *Transactions* articles
on Arisbe. Fortunately, however, many Peirce-L members read *Transactions*
online and/or in its print edition. I'll hunt up some of the VT's articles
you pointed to myself. As for the other two journals, I'll have to look
into seeing if it is possible to place some of VT's articles on our
website.

AB: I think VT’s books have shown that Peirce was more consistent in his
usage than our contemporary counterparts in Habermas, Eco, and Barthes. The
main driver was to use Peirce’s way of thinking to address aesthetics and
poetics as philosophic. He took the disciplines of aesthetics, semeiotic
and poetics as the disciplines to understand literary art, an effort he
advanced since his dissertation in 1956.

While acknowledging that many, including some people on this list, have
found considerable value in the work of Habermas, Eco, and Barthes (I have
myself, especially as regards some of the work of Habermas), I too tend to
'return to Peirce' for insights into most philosophical matters I'm
considering.

And while most of Peirce's writing on semiotic and aesthestic (or esthetic,
as he preferred to spell it when discussing in as a normative science)
occur in his work in cenoscopic science (philosophy as he conceived of it),
I was reminded by Nathan Houser at the Charles S. Peirce International
Centennial Congress held at UMass Lowell in 2014, that not all was. Yet
much of this extra-scientific writing appears, I believe, in unpublished
letters and MSS. Still, there are many hints and suggestions of Peirce's
conception of aesthetics and poetics which some scholars have already
vigorously pursued (in architecture, literature, music, theology,
linguistics, etc.)

AB: For his examination on the Hypothesis of Continuity in Parmenides, and
Peirce, I would direct you to chapters 17-18 in *Two Metaphysical
Naturalisms* 2015. These were long slated for publication, with some
overlap in the chapters - the editorial decision was to place them together
in that book without reducing them into one. VT was particular that
Parmenides is correct in conceptualizing Being in the sense of the All as
the exclusive alternative of not-being, opposing the view that something
can both be and not-be.

This is most interesting. It immediately brought to mind the extraordinary
contemporary work in continuity and aesthetics, poetics, and much else
being done by the Colombian scholar, Fernando Zalamea. See for example
his *Peirce's
Logic of Continuity*:

https://www.docentpress.com/books/peirces-logic-of-continuity/

I was fortunate to attend a month long seminar series he gave in 2015 at
The Pratt Institute in New York City (and later, with Bev Corwin, to invite
him to speak at a Semiotics Web meetup/mashup when he next visited NYC).

https://zalameaseminarnyc.wordpress.com

This brief blurb on the series hints at the range of his interests.

Professor Zalamea‘s lectures introduce the groundbreaking work of twentieth
century French mathematician Alexander Grothendieck in relation to the work
of C.S. Peirce, Novalis, P. Valéry, theories of topoi and sheaves,
networks, art, and music, towards a generalized theory of transgression for
mathematics, philosophy, and contemporary culture in our transmodern world.

AB: Taken together, I think [VT] sought to formalize how art addresses the
human condition, at a certain level which he calls the perspective of
humanity – see his *Literature, Criticism and the Theory of Signs* book.
Also, see these 2 main papers here which continue the train of thought;

 "A Peircean Semeiotic for the Human Sciences, with Special Reference to
Aesthetics,"*European Journal for Semiotic Studies* Vol.8 (2,3) and Annales
d' Esthetique Athens Greece: 1992-1993 Vol. 31-32

"Generality and Reflective Quality in Works of Art: A Peircean Account,"
The Journal of Speculative Philosophy Vol. XI, No.4, pp. 280-296

 Perhaps I'm suggesting that it might be interesting and potentially
valuable to compare and contrast the work of these two great scholars, both
deeply informed by the work of Peirce. There are certainly those here quite
interested in discussing Peirce in relation to the human sciences, fine
arts, etc.

Thank you for bringing V. Tejera's life and work to our attention.


Best,


Gary




*Gary Richmond*
*Philosophy and Critical Thinking*
*Communication Studies*
*LaGuardia College of the City University of New York*

*718 482-5690*


On Fri, Sep 7, 2018 at 7:39 

Re: [PEIRCE-L] Brief note on the passing of V. Tejera at 95 years

[Atila Bayat]

Gary,
Thank you for the comments. I will look up digital versions for the Arisbe
web.

The 3 main journals I found his works on Peirce were *Transactions of CSP
Society, American Journal of Semiotics*, and *Semiotische Berichte*.  I was
unable to find the digital versions today, but I will try to get them out
this fall (I work from hardcopy).

I think VT’s books have shown that Peirce was more consistent in his usage
than our contemporary counterparts in Habermas, Eco, and Barthes. The main
driver was to use Peirce’s way of thinking to address aesthetics and
poetics as philosophic. He took the disciplines of aesthetics, semeiotic
and poetics as the disciplines to understand literary art, an effort he
advanced since his dissertation in 1956.

For his examination on the Hypothesis of Continuity in Parmenides, and
Peirce, I would direct you to chapters 17-18 in *Two Metaphysical
Naturalisms* 2015. These were long slated for publication, with some
overlap in the chapters - the editorial decision was to place them together
in that book without reducing them into one. VT was particular that
Parmenides is correct in conceptualizing Being in the sense of the All as
the exclusive alternative of not-being, opposing the view that something
can both be and not-be.

Taken together, I think he sought to formalize how art addresses the human
condition, at a certain level which he calls the perspective of humanity –
see his *Literature, Criticism and the Theory of Signs* book. Also, see
these 2 main papers here which continue the train of thought;

 "A Peircean Semeiotic for the Human Sciences, with Special Reference to
Aesthetics," *European Journal for Semiotic Studies* Vol.8 (2,3) and
Annales d' Esthetique Athens Greece: 1992-1993 Vol. 31-32

"Generality and Reflective Quality in Works of Art: A Peircean Account,"
The Journal of Speculative Philosophy Vol. XI, No.4, pp. 280-296



The other articles I have to note;

"Peirce's Semeiotic, and the Aesthetics of Literature," Transactions of the
C.S. Peirce Society XXIX (1993)



"The Triadic Semeiotic of Visual and Verbal Communication," *Semiotische
Berichte* SB 1,2,3,495 pp. 313-323 Jg.19 1-4, 1995

"To Which of Peirce's Sign Classes to Works of Art Belong?" *Semiotische
Berichte* SB 2,3,4/1996 pp. 321-328

"Eco, Peirce and Interpretationism, Review-Essay of *The Limits of
Interpretation"*

American Journal of Semiotics Vol.8 (1991). Reprinted in *Reading Eco: An
Anthology*, edited by Rocco Capozzi, Indiana University Press 1997

"Interpretation Theory and the Inadequacies of Binarist Semiology,"
*Semiotische
Berichte. *pp. 299-312 1995

"Semiotics, the Modes of Judgment & the Nature of Criticism," published in
ed. Gerard Deledalle *Signs of Humanity* L'homme et ses signes Volume III,
Mouton de Gruyter, Approaches to Semiotics 107. Also published in Semiotik
Interdisziplinar *European Journal for Semiotic Studies* V/VI Vol. 7-3,4
1995, pp. 669-683 [Chapter 4 of *Literature, Criticism, and the Theory of
Signs*]

"The Primacy of the Aesthetic in Peirce, and Classic American Philosophy,"
MS published in ed. Herman Parret, *Peirce and Value Theory*, (John
Benjamins Publishing, 1994)

"Lacan's Theory of Meaning, and Semeiotics," American Journal of Semiotics
No. X (1995-96)

"Has Habermas Understood Peirce?" Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce
Society Winter, 1996, Vol. XXXII, No. 1
Regards,
Atila


On Wed, Sep 5, 2018 at 7:28 PM Gary Richmond 
wrote:

> Dear Atila Bayat,
>
> Thank you for providing this excellent short biography of Victorino
> Tejera, a man who was not only an extraordinary scholar, but also teacher,
> poet, translator, and diplomat. What an extraordinary life!
>
> If feasible, we would like to place some of his scholarly work in the
> Peirce-Related Papers section of the Arisbe website:
> http://www.iupui.edu/~arisbe/ so that if you know how that might possibly
> be facilitated, please do not hesitate to contact me or Ben Udell.
>
> And now I must locate my old copy of Jack Kerouac's *On the Road* to see
> how V.Tejera (aka 'Victor Villanueva') is characterized in that iconic
> piece of American biofiction.
>
> Best,
>
> Gary
>
> *Gary Richmond*
> *Philosophy and Critical Thinking*
> *Communication Studies*
> *LaGuardia College of the City University of New York*
>
> *718 482-5690*
>
>
> On Wed, Sep 5, 2018 at 6:38 PM Atila Bayat  wrote:
>
>> Dear All,
>>
>> Professor Tejera was a sometime contributor to the Peirce list in the mid
>> 1990's in contact with J. Ransdell. He wrote two books in Semiotics, and
>> many articles as well. I can supply a complete bibliography upon request.
>> He contributed "The Centrality of Art in Classic American Philosophy" to
>> the Peirce sesquicentennial at Harvard in 1989 (which he asked me to read
>> on his behalf).
>>
>> His 2 semiotics books were;
>>
>> *1) Semiotics From Peirce to Barthes: A Conceptual Introduction to the
>> Study of Communication, Interpretation, and Expression* published by
>> E.J. Brill in 1988.
>>

Re: [PEIRCE-L] Brief note on the passing of V. Tejera at 95 years

[Gary Richmond]

Dear Atila Bayat,

Thank you for providing this excellent short biography of Victorino Tejera,
a man who was not only an extraordinary scholar, but also teacher, poet,
translator, and diplomat. What an extraordinary life!

If feasible, we would like to place some of his scholarly work in the
Peirce-Related Papers section of the Arisbe website:
http://www.iupui.edu/~arisbe/ so that if you know how that might possibly
be facilitated, please do not hesitate to contact me or Ben Udell.

And now I must locate my old copy of Jack Kerouac's *On the Road* to see
how V.Tejera (aka 'Victor Villanueva') is characterized in that iconic
piece of American biofiction.

Best,

Gary

*Gary Richmond*
*Philosophy and Critical Thinking*
*Communication Studies*
*LaGuardia College of the City University of New York*

*718 482-5690*


On Wed, Sep 5, 2018 at 6:38 PM Atila Bayat  wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> Professor Tejera was a sometime contributor to the Peirce list in the mid
> 1990's in contact with J. Ransdell. He wrote two books in Semiotics, and
> many articles as well. I can supply a complete bibliography upon request.
> He contributed "The Centrality of Art in Classic American Philosophy" to
> the Peirce sesquicentennial at Harvard in 1989 (which he asked me to read
> on his behalf).
>
> His 2 semiotics books were;
>
> *1) Semiotics From Peirce to Barthes: A Conceptual Introduction to the
> Study of Communication, Interpretation, and Expression* published by E.J.
> Brill in 1988.
>
> *2) Literature, Criticism, and the Theory of Signs* published by John
> Benjamins in 1995.
>
> My brief -
>
> *Victorino Tejera, Scholar, Teacher, and Philosopher dies at 95.*
>
> Victorino Tejera, Professor of Humanities emeritus of SUNY at Stony Brook
> died suddenly on Saturday August 25 at a nursing rehabilitation home in New
> York City. He was 95 years old and lived in New York City. Professor Tejera
> was a Professor of Philosophy, Comparative Literature, and Humanities. He
> taught at Stony Brook for more than 29 years, and taught previously at
> Howard University, Rensselaer Polytechnic, and Georgetown University. He
> wrote and published more than 15 books in the areas of Aesthetics,
> Metaphysics, History of Philosophy, American Philosophy, and especially in
> Classical Greek Thought.  He was made an honorary citizen of Lindos,
> Rhodes, for his work on classical Greek culture.
>
> Dr. Tejera was born in Caracas, Venezuela. His grandfather was the
> President of Venezuela, Victorino Marquez Bustillos
> , his
> paternal great uncle was a notable Venezuelan writer and historian Felipe
> Tejera. Tejera attended St. Mary's College in Southampton, England
> , a boarding school, from
> 1930-1938, receiving his London Matriculate (university entry status
> certificate) in 1939. He received a fellowship to study at Columbia
> University  in the
> U.S., completing his Bachelor of Arts degree at the undergraduate college
> in philosophy (Phi Beta Kappa
> ) in 1948. He also
> completed his *docente* (teacher's training) at the Central University of
> Venezuela in 1951.
>
> His early philosophic passion was Greek Philosophy, and he received
> instruction in Classical Greek from Fred Householder
> . He studied History of
> Philosophy, Aesthetics, and Literary Theory. He also attended summer
> sessions in the late 1940's at the Kenyon School of English. In those early
> years, Tejera’s teachers included the renowned intellectual and cultural
> historians John H. Randall Jr.
> , Justus Buchler
> , Herbert W. Schneider
> , Irwin
> Edman , Mark Van Doren
> , Jacques Barzun
> , and Lionel Trilling
> . While a PhD candidate,
> he was graduate assistant to Irwin Edman
> . He counts Andrew Chiappe,
> Alan Willard Brown, and Quentin Anderson
>  all among his other
> outstanding teachers at Columbia. He was profoundly affected by the
> writings of John Dewey ,
> Charles S. Peirce, and George Santayana
> , as well as by the work
> and literature of the New Critics
>  John Crowe Ransom
> , and Ivor Winters. His
> art and literary interests in New York City enabled encounters with noted
> 

Re: [PEIRCE-L] Brief note on the passing of V. Tejera at 95 years

[Stephen Curtiss Rose]

Most interesting. The Plato remarks especially. I wish aesthetics was more
noted as essential to Peirce's notions.

amazon.com/author/stephenrose

On Wed, Sep 5, 2018 at 6:37 PM, Atila Bayat  wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> Professor Tejera was a sometime contributor to the Peirce list in the mid
> 1990's in contact with J. Ransdell. He wrote two books in Semiotics, and
> many articles as well. I can supply a complete bibliography upon request.
> He contributed "The Centrality of Art in Classic American Philosophy" to
> the Peirce sesquicentennial at Harvard in 1989 (which he asked me to read
> on his behalf).
>
> His 2 semiotics books were;
>
> *1) Semiotics From Peirce to Barthes: A Conceptual Introduction to the
> Study of Communication, Interpretation, and Expression* published by E.J.
> Brill in 1988.
>
> *2) Literature, Criticism, and the Theory of Signs* published by John
> Benjamins in 1995.
>
> My brief -
>
> *Victorino Tejera, Scholar, Teacher, and Philosopher dies at 95.*
>
> Victorino Tejera, Professor of Humanities emeritus of SUNY at Stony Brook
> died suddenly on Saturday August 25 at a nursing rehabilitation home in New
> York City. He was 95 years old and lived in New York City. Professor Tejera
> was a Professor of Philosophy, Comparative Literature, and Humanities. He
> taught at Stony Brook for more than 29 years, and taught previously at
> Howard University, Rensselaer Polytechnic, and Georgetown University. He
> wrote and published more than 15 books in the areas of Aesthetics,
> Metaphysics, History of Philosophy, American Philosophy, and especially in
> Classical Greek Thought.  He was made an honorary citizen of Lindos,
> Rhodes, for his work on classical Greek culture.
>
> Dr. Tejera was born in Caracas, Venezuela. His grandfather was the
> President of Venezuela, Victorino Marquez Bustillos
> , his
> paternal great uncle was a notable Venezuelan writer and historian Felipe
> Tejera. Tejera attended St. Mary's College in Southampton, England
> , a boarding school, from
> 1930-1938, receiving his London Matriculate (university entry status
> certificate) in 1939. He received a fellowship to study at Columbia
> University  in the
> U.S., completing his Bachelor of Arts degree at the undergraduate college
> in philosophy (Phi Beta Kappa
> ) in 1948. He also
> completed his *docente* (teacher's training) at the Central University of
> Venezuela in 1951.
>
> His early philosophic passion was Greek Philosophy, and he received
> instruction in Classical Greek from Fred Householder
> . He studied History of
> Philosophy, Aesthetics, and Literary Theory. He also attended summer
> sessions in the late 1940's at the Kenyon School of English. In those early
> years, Tejera’s teachers included the renowned intellectual and cultural
> historians John H. Randall Jr.
> , Justus Buchler
> , Herbert W. Schneider
> , Irwin
> Edman , Mark Van Doren
> , Jacques Barzun
> , and Lionel Trilling
> . While a PhD candidate,
> he was graduate assistant to Irwin Edman
> . He counts Andrew Chiappe,
> Alan Willard Brown, and Quentin Anderson
>  all among his other
> outstanding teachers at Columbia. He was profoundly affected by the
> writings of John Dewey ,
> Charles S. Peirce, and George Santayana
> , as well as by the work
> and literature of the New Critics
>  John Crowe Ransom
> , and Ivor Winters. His
> art and literary interests in New York City enabled encounters with noted
> artists, writers, and poets of the Beat generation writers such as Allen
> Ginsberg , Jack Kerouac
> , and the artist Jacob Kainen
> , with whom he formed an
> enduring friendship. He was identified as the character 'Victor Villanueva'
> in Kerouac's *On the Road *,
> a Latin
> American poet. Tejera published and translated poems as well.
>
> In his early professional career, Tejera held diplomatic posts at the UN.
> He worked for the