Charles Sanders Peirce (Enlarged Edition), Revised and Enlarged Edition: A Life [Paperback]

Joseph Brent (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 22, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0253211611 | ISBN-13: 978-0253211613 | Edition: Revised and Enlarged Edition

"[Brent] has produced a thoughtful, sometimes moving, and entirely accessible intellectual biography which is also, under the circumstances, indispensable." —The New York Review of Books

"... a fine biography." —The New York Times Book Review

"... an extraordinary, inspiring portrait of the largely forgotten Peirce, a progenitor of modern thought who devised a realist metaphysics and attempted to achieve direct knowledge of God by applying the logic of science." —Publishers Weekly

In this expanded paperback edition of the critically acclaimed biography of a true American original, the philosopher-polymath Charles Sanders Peirce, Joseph Brent refines his interpretation of Peirce's thought and character based on new research, and has added a glossary and a detailed chronology.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Having published eight books on C.S. Peirce, the founder of American pragmatism, Ketner is an acknowledged authority on the man as well as a true believer. The collected papers of Peirce (pronounced Purse) were published in multivolume editions, but Peirce never wrote an autobiography. To make up for this omission, Ketner has begun to write one for him in the first of three planned volumes. To produce this work of literary nonfiction, Ketner has inserted imagined speeches by Peirce and passages from Peirce's letters and philosophic writings where he "waxed autobiographical." To move the story along, Ketner introduces a narrator and two other fictional characters who function as intellectual detectives, separating genuine revelations from bogus ones. Their sleuthing may be helped or hindered by the fact that the narrator believes he is possessed by the spirit of Peirce. The reader is therefore confronted by a real author (Ketner), a dead subject (Peirce), fictional characters and reconstructed and imagined events. Using this convention, Ketner is able to make Peirce more immediate, and he weaves together an impressive amount of research on Peirce's early life, connecting thoughts to the thinker. However, the device of fictional scholarship becomes very complicated, awkward and, ultimately, impossible to sustain. If, as pragmatism claims, truth is whatever works, then this book cannot be called true. (Aug.) FYI: Indiana University is releasing Joseph Brent's Charles Sanders Peirce: A Life in a revised and enlarged edition. ($35 ISBN 0-253-33350-4; paper $18.95 -21161-1)
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Volume 5 of the Writings of Charles S. Peirce brings the editors of the Peirce Project one step closer to their momentous goal: a complete edition of the philosopher's works. The present volume included both an important paper on logic that introduces quantification theory and the "Study of Great Men," notes gathered by Peirce for a statistical study of human achievement. Though some of the material, e.g., "The Reciprocity Treaty with Spain," is of purely antiquarian value, the editors should be congratulated for their pursuit of one of the great scholarly endeavors of our time. Recommended for academic collections. Brent's biography of Peirce, also a considerable scholarly achievement, will have a much wider popular appeal. As Brent (history, Univ. of the District of Columbia) stresses, Peirce had a volatile nature. He was often carried away by enthusiasm, and his philosophy bears the mark of his wild temperament. The author notes Peirce's constant academic and personal feuds and the powerful influence of his father, Benjamin. This outstanding book, the first full-scale biography of Peirce, illuminates both Peirce's life and his philosophy.
- David Gordon, Bowling Green State Univ., Ohio
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press; Revised and Enlarged Edition edition (November 22, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253211611
• ISBN-13: 978-0253211613
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,004,940 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, April 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Charles Sanders Peirce (Enlarged Edition), Revised and Enlarged Edition: A Life (Paperback)

This is a very good biography of an overlooked great American thinker. Mr. Brent does a good job of recounting the life of Peirce without getting bogged down in the details of Peirce's philosophy which is well documented in several other books. The book also attempts to analyze Peirce's behavoir and why he failed as an academic, something that desperately needed to be done. As Peirce's reputation inevitatably increases, this biography will become a classic reference to this very interesting American.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific insight into the man behind the philosophy, May 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Charles Sanders Peirce (Enlarged Edition), Revised and Enlarged Edition: A Life (Paperback)

This book contains a great deal of information on the life of a sadly-neglected philosopher; one of the most brilliant Americans of the 19th century. Dr. Brent has a wonderful, at times even poetic, writing style, and he has "lived" with Peirce so long that he has excellent insight into the man behind the philosophy. Struggling through Peirce in a class? This book may not make his philosophy "easy"--but it will make him more human.