Charles Sanders Peirce: Biography Of This Pragmatist Philosopher

Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) was an American philosopher and scientist, founder of the school of American pragmatism. He was also a specialist in logic and in the theory of language and communication, which significantly influenced the development of philosophy and also a good part of psychology.

In this article we will see a biography of Charles Sanders Peirce as well as some of his main theoretical contributions.

Biography of Charles Sanders Peirce: founder of American pragmatism

Charles Sanders Peirce was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on September 10, 1839. He was the fourth child of Sarah Mills and Benjamin Peirce, who was a prominent professor of astronomy and mathematics at Harvard University

Like his father, Peirce graduated from Harvard College in 1859 and began studying chemistry at the Lawrende Scientific School, which was part of the same university. He also served as a computer assistant to his father, with whom he carried out important work in astronomy, within the Harvard Observatory.

As part of the same, between the years of 1873 and 1886, Charles Sanders Peirce conducted experiments on approximately 20 space stations in the United States, Europe, and Canada. In these experiments he used pendulums designed by himself. This gave him important international recognition and led him to work for many years as a chemical engineer, mathematician and inventor Likewise, the practical involvement he had in physics led him to finally reject scientific determinism.

In the year 1867, Peirce He was elected member of the Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as a member of the National Academy of Sciences in 1877 and, three years later, he was elected member of the Society of Mathematicians of London.

Thus, for a long time he worked in mathematics and physics, although He had a special interest in philosophy, philology, and especially logic, issues that later brought him closer to experimental psychology. He is considered, among other things, the father of modern semiotics (the science of signs) and one of the most important philosophers of all time.

Peirce’s logic

Through his studies, Pierce importantly linked logic to the theory of signs; Although he especially dedicated himself to studying logic in the scientific field or the “logic of science”, that is, induction (how to extract conclusions or principles from a set of data in a logical manner).

To the latter, Peirce added two methods to generate hypotheses that he called “retroduction” and “abduction.” Abduction, for Peirce, It is a complement to induction and deduction that is, they are closely related tools.

And he maintained that the latter is not only found in the scientific method, but is part of our daily activity. This is because, when faced with a phenomenon that we can hardly explain, we display a range of beliefs that, since they cannot offer a solution to our doubts, lead us to generate a series of hypotheses about the phenomenon.

We then deduce the consequences of this hypothesis and, finally, we test them through experience. This logic allows us not so much to verify which hypothesis is correct, but rather what each one consists of and how it is distinguished from the others, which leads us to evaluate, above all, the set of its practical consequences.

According to Peirce, all this could only be understood through a broad knowledge of the methods and reasoning present in all the sciences

Likewise, among the studies he carried out in the logic of science, Pierce analyzed the work of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant for several years, concluding that they were arguments with a logic that Pierce described as “superficial”, and that finally led him towards formal research in logic, both in philosophy and in other disciplines.

American pragmatism or pragmaticism

Peirce maintained that the scientific method is one of the resources for constructing and modifying beliefs, as well as one of the most important tools to give clarity to complex problems and offer appropriate solutions to them.

In Peirce’s pragmatism, every idea has meaning based on its practical consequences, that is, due to its experiential value. And in an attempt to differentiate other currents of pragmatism that began to develop from his works, Pierce baptized his own tradition as “pragmaticism”, which currently serves as a synonym for the school of “American pragmatism” and is differentiated, for example, from pragmatism. of his colleagues William James and John Dewey.

Outstanding works

Charles Sanders Peirce wrote for more than 50 years on topics related to very different areas of knowledge. From mathematics and physics, to economics and psychology, to name a few

However, probably his two best-known works are the first two articles in a series of six that were originally compiled in Illustrations of Logic of Science, published in 1877 in the journal Popular Science Monthly.

These two articles were: Fixation of beliefwhere defends the superiority of the scientific method about other methods for resolving doubts and forming beliefs; and How to clarify our ideaswhere he establishes a “pragmatic” definition for the concepts.

Other of his best-known books are Photometric investigationsfrom 1878, and Studies in logic1883. In general terms, Peirce’s extensive work problematizes issues such as the foundations of modern science, the existence or possibility of achieving an absolute truth, and knowledge from a logical perspective.