Peirce on Signs: Writings on Semiotic

by Hoopes

Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) is rapidly becoming recognized as the greatest American philosopher. At the center of his philosophy was a revolutionary model of the way human beings think. Peirce, a logician, challenged traditional models by describing thoughts not as "ideas" but as "signs," external to the self and without meaning unless interpreted by a subsequent thought. His general theory of signs -- or semiotic -- is especially pertinent to methodologies currently being debated in many disciplines.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Semiotics, Linguistics

294 pages, Paperback

First published December 14, 1991

Reviews

[Charlie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although all of the readings in this book do in some way relate to peirce's view of signs, the focus is largely on what is unique to peirce's conception of signs rather than grappling with the semiotic details.

For example the knowledge of what a sign actually is generally assumed and only very loosely defined. The content of this book is more related to the relation between signs cognition and epistemology.

Overall this book is really interesting, and the picture it gives of Peirce as a philosopher is compelling, but it is perhaps unsurprising Peirce ever managed to discipline his wide ranging ideas into a cohesive philosophical text given his scatter gun tangental approach to such an impossibly wide range of topics.

It is a huge shame and loss to the world of philosophy that Peirce never managed to finish any one of his projects even if the most likely cohesion he was able to offer was the tenuous link of his obsession over triadic structures that even he was critical of. It his tireless self critisism that presumably prevented himself from doing so, but it is also of course this constant critisism that makes him such an engaging philosopher.

This is a brilliant yet frustrating read at times wandering far from the locus of signs, you are probably just as well getting hold of the much more available dover selected writings edition Charles S. Peirce, Selected Writings which may not have such an emphasis on signs but will give you a similar idea of how they fit into his philosophy.

[Alexander Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although at times, it isn't clear exactly why a chapter follows another other, it often becomes clear. This is a great introduction to how Peirce's work has become central to certain kinds of phenomena across many different disciplines. This is a theory book useful for any interdisciplinary academic.

[Steff Daza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, highly recommended.
Read it for my thesis.

[song er k · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good taste of selections.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstandingly compelling introduction to Peirce’s work. Has significantly effected the way I see the world. Very dense (and I think a lot of this is his more accessible work on the semiotic), but also hilarious at times. I absolutely need to read more of him.

[Josiah Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although he is a master at logic, his "Neglected Argument" should be very much so neglected and his Retroduction to somehow validate his belief in God completely ruins any logical progress he ever made