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 has an important influence on the development of philosophy and also a large part of psychology.

In this article we will see a biography of charles sanders peirce, as well as some of his main theoretical contributions.

• Related article: "Differences between Psychology and Philosophy"

Charles Sanders Peirce Biography: 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 leading professor of astronomy and mathematics at Harvard University.

Like his father, Peirce graduated from Harvard College in 1859 and began studies in chemistry at the Lawrende School of Science, which was part of the same university. He also served as a computer assistant for his father, with whom he did important work in astronomy at the Harvard Observatory.

As part of the same, between the years of 1873 and 1886, Charles Sanders Peirce conducted experiments in 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 he led him to work for many years as a chemical engineer, mathematician and inventor. Likewise, the practical involvement that he had in physics led him to finally reject scientific determinism.

In the year 1867, Peirce Elected to 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 a member of the London Mathematical Society.

So, he for a long time he worked in mathematics and physics, although he had a special interest in philosophy, philology, and especially logic, questions 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.

• You may be interested in: "Pragmatism: what is it and what does this philosophical current propose?"

Peirce's logic

Through his studies, Pierce linked logic to the theory of signs in an important way; Although he especially dedicated himself to studying logic in the scientific field or the "logic of science", it is that is, of induction (how to draw conclusions or principles from a set of data and how logic).

To the latter, Peirce added two methods to generate hypotheses which he called "retroduction" and "abduction". Abduction, for Peirce, is a complement of 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 so because, when we find ourselves in front of a phenomenon that we can hardly explain, we display a range of beliefs that, by not being able to offer solutions to our doubts, lead us to generate a series of hypotheses about the freak.

Later we deduce the consequences of said hypothesis and, finally, we put them to the test through experience. This logic allows us not so much to check which hypothesis is correct, but rather what each one consists of and how it is distinguished from the others, which leads us to value above all the set of its consequences practices.

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

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

American pragmatism or pragmaticism

Peirce argued that the scientific method is one of the resources for the construction and modification of beliefs, as well as one of the most important tools to bring clarity to complex problems and offer correct solutions to them.

In Peirce's pragmatism, every idea has meaning from its practical consequences, that is, by its experiential value. And in an attempt to distinguish other strands of pragmatism that began to develop out of his work, Pierce christened his own tradition as "pragmaticism", which currently serves as a synonym for the school of "American pragmatism" and differs for example from the pragmatism of its 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 which were originally compiled in Logic Illustrations of Science, published in 1877 in the magazine Popular Science Monthly.

These two articles were: The fixation of belief, where defends the superiority of the scientific method on other methods for the resolution of doubts and the formation of beliefs; and How to clarify our ideas, where he establishes a "pragmatic" definition for the concepts.

Other of his best known books are photometric investigations, of 1878, and studies in logic, from 1883. In general terms, Peirce's extensive work problematizes issues such as the foundations of science knowledge, the existence or possibility of reaching an absolute truth, and knowledge from a perspective logic.