Charles S. Peirce's Philosophy of Signs

[Note: Picture of Peirce available]

Charles S. Peirce's Philosophy of Signs

Essays in Comparative Semiotics

Gérard Deledalle

Peirce's semiotics and metaphysics compared to the thought of other leading philosophers.

"This is essential reading for anyone who wants to find common ground between the best of American semiotics and better-known European theories. Deledalle has done more than anyone else to introduce Peirce to European audiences, and now he sends Peirce home with some new flare."—Nathan Houser, Director, Peirce Edition Project

Charles S. Peirce's Philosophy of Signs examines Peirce's philosophy and semiotic thought from a European perspective, comparing the American's unique views with a wide variety of work by thinkers from the ancients to moderns. Parts I and II deal with the philosophical paradigms which are at the root of Peirce's new theory of signs, pragmatic and social. The main concepts analyzed are those of "sign" and "semiosis" and their respective trichotomies; formally in the case of "sign," in time in the case of semiosis. Part III is devoted to comparing Peirce's theory of semiotics as a form of logic to the work of other philosophers, including Bertrand Russell, Wittgenstein, Frege, Philodemus, Lady Welby, Saussure, Morris, Jakobson, and Marshall McLuhan. Part IV compares Peirce's "scientific metaphysics" with European metaphysics.

Gérard Deledalle holds the Doctorate in Philosophy from the Sorbonne. A research scholar at Columbia University and Attaché at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris, he has also been Professor of Philosophy and Head of the Philosophy Department of the universities of Tunis, Perpignan, and Libreville. In 1990 he received the Herbert W. Schneider Award "for distinguished contributions to the understanding and development of American philosophy. In 2001, he was appointed vice-president of the Charles S. Peirce Society.

Contents

Introduction—Peirce Compared: Directions for Use

Part I—Semeiotic as Philosophy

Peirce's New Philosophical Paradigms

Peirce's Philosophy of Semeiotic

Peirce's First Pragmatic Papers (1877-1878)

The Postscriptum of 1893

Part II—Semeiotic as Semiotics

Sign: Semiosis and Representamen—Semiosis and Time

Sign: The Concept and Its Use—Reading as Translation

Part III—Comparative Semiotics

Semiotics and Logic: A Reply to Jerzy Pelc

Semeiotic and Greek Logic: Peirce and Philodemus

Semeiotic and Significs: Peirce and Lady Welby

Semeiotic and Semiology: Peirce and Saussure

Semeiotic and Semiotics: Peirce and Morris

Semeiotic and Linguistics: Peirce and Jakobson

Semeiotic and Communication: Peirce and McLuhan

Semeiotic and Epistemology: Peirce, Frege, and Wittgenstein

Part IV—Comparative Metaphysics

Gnoseology—Perceiving and Knowing: Peirce, Wittgenstein, and Gestalttheorie

Ontology—Transcendentals "of" or "without" Being: Peirce versus Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas

Cosmology—Chaos and Chance within Order and Continuity: Peirce between Plato and Darwin

Theology—The Reality of God: Peirce's Triune God and the Church's Trinity

Conclusion—Peirce: A Lateral View