Peirce's Pragmatic Theory of Inquiry

Fallibilism and Indeterminacy
Erscheinungsjahr 2006
ISBN: 978-0-8264-8899-2
Verlag: Bloomsbury 3PL

Buch, Englisch, 192 Seiten, Format (B × H): 161 mm x 240 mm, Gewicht: 458 g

Reihe: Continuum Studies in American Philosophy

ground-breaking study of one of America's greatest philosophers

- Important new book on the founder of American Pragmatism
- Unites the various strands in Peirce's thought via a fundamental analysis of his fallibilism
- An invaluable guide for students and academics alike

The philosophy of Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) is very important at every stage of the history of modern American thought. It informs William James's evolutionary metaphysics, John Dewey's theory of logic, W.V.O. Quine's naturalism, and Richard Rorty's notion of the Linguistic Turn. Similarly, many Continental philosophers, like Jürgen Habermas, Karl-Otto Apel, Jacques Derrida, and Umberto Eco, have developed Peirce's semiotic logic as central to their own philosophical views. Yet until now there has been a yawning gap in the literature on what is arguably the most essential idea in the entire Peircean corpus, namely his "fallibilism." The basic idea of fallibilism is that all knowledge claims, including those metaphysical, methodological, introspective, and even mathematical claims - all of these remain uncertain, provisional, merely fallible conjectures.

As Elizabeth Cooke explains in Peirce’s Pragmatic Theory of Inquiry, one long-standing concern with the idea of fallibilism is that it might all too easily slide into "skepticism." And this would certainly undermine the overall project of making Peirce's fallibilism the linchpin for any realistic pragmatism. So, it is essential to show Peirce's philosophy does not require any claims to certitude, in order to keep his fallibilism from falling into scepticism or contextualism. Cooke's solution to this problem is to interpret Peirce as having reconceived knowledge - traditionally defined as "foundational" and even "static" - as a dynamic process of inquiry, one which evolves within a larger ontological process of evolution. Her book will be of great interest not only to Peirce and Pragmatism specialists but also to contemporary epistemologists more generally.

Zielgruppe

Academics

Autoren/Hrsg.

Cooke, Elizabeth

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie Westliche Philosophie: 20./21. Jahrhundert
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Moderne Philosophische Disziplinen Existenzphilosophie, Lebensphilosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Erkenntnistheorie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Moderne Philosophische Disziplinen Philosophie des Geistes, Neurophilosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Abbreviations.
Acknowledgments.
Chapter 1: Introduction.
Chapter 2: Peirce's Critique of Foundationalism and Traditional Frameworks of Inquiry.
Chapter 3: Peirce's Positive Theory of Knowledge: The Growth of Knowledge.
Chapter 4: The Scope of Peirce's Fallibilism.
Chapter 5: Fallibilism Objectified: Peirce's Ontological Hypothesis of Synechism.
Chapter 6: Conclusions and Critique of Other Interpretations. Bibliography.
Index.

Über Autor(innen)

Elizabeth Cooke teaches philosophy at Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, USA. She is the author of numerous articles in various philosophical journals.