Charles Peirce : From Pragmatism to Pragmaticism (Paperback)

by Karl-Otto Apel (Author) "Despite the exaggeration and simplification that is involved in the revelation of any complex truth, it can be said that in the world of so-called..." (more)
Key Phrases: cotary propositions, consensus catholicus, pragmatic maxim, William James, Critical Common-sensism, Metaphysical Club (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Apel's book is the most important one that has been published in this field after the war. Apel carefully discusses the different stages of the development of Peirce's work."

Product Description
Charles Sanders Peirce is widely recognised as the founder of American pragmatism. Apel's systematic, sweeping, and innovative study quickly turned into a classic of Peirce scholarship when first published and became a major factor during the late sixties and early seventies in the discovery of pragmatism by Continental philosophy. The work discusses the historical importance of pragmatism as one of the major modern responses to the 'disintegration of the Hegelian synthesis'. As a mediation between theory and praxis, Apel presents pragmatism as the major rival to both existentialism and Marxism, the two other responses to the Hegelian aftermath. In the same context, Apel demonstrates the importance of Peirce's conceptual breakthroughs, in the theory of signs (semiotics) and the theory of rationality, for the challenges and possibilities of a critical theory of society. The contemporary developments of the Frankfurt School, in its third generation now, cannot be understood without Apel's appropriations of Peirce for a grounding of a critical theory of society as formulated in this systematic reconstruction of modern philosophy. This work is also crucial for an understanding of Apel's own philosophical project of a transcendental pragmatics, or semiotics. With the revival of Peirce studies, and the rediscovery of the pragmatist tradition in American philosophical thinking, this study articulates a very contemporary and relevant interpretation that may challenge and even go against the grain of many so-called Neopragmatists. This book will also be of interest to those scholars interested in the development of post-World War II German thought, and the influence of North American thinking on European thought in general.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 286 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books (August 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573926035
• ISBN-13: 978-1573926034
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,441,208 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The last Great Enlightenment Philosopher, July 7, 2006

By	craig "craig" (Europe) - See all my reviews

If you still believe that the enlightenment is more convincing than unquestioned ignorance (or what amounts to the same thing--a philosophical return to fundamentalist authoritarinism hidden within a philosophy of what is thought to be radically 'other') this book is a great book to have. Or if you are convinced by the arguments of Habermas but wish that he would stop apologising and parsing words with himself, then this brilliant and above all clear book by Karl-otto Apel is for you. Apel is one of the last philosophers left who can make a strong argument in favour of reason. He is the last great scientific and rational humanist left in an intellectual landscape which is more and more looking like an ode to the ultimate demise of reason and sanity.