It's relatively well-known that Charles Sanders Peirce made no effort to hide his genius or knowledge; as he is remembered to have asked during one of his lectures at Harvard University, "Do you follow me?" Even though this was his advanced class, no one did. "I'm not surprised. I know of only three persons who could."
His intellect was largely part of his appeal though. Another student, when asked after one of his lectures what she got out of it, said he was absolutely "splendid" even though she could only remember one detail of the lecture. For those of us, such as this woman, who do have a hard time wrapping our minds around some of Peirce's seemingly nonsensical language...
A dictionary and compilation of his terms, in his own terms!
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I really enjoyed reading through Peirce's definitions. It was interesting to have a new angle of Peirce through this 'dictionary' instead of through an article. The terms he uses are complex and difficult so this dictionary is extremely helpful in understand his ideas. I thought a dictionary form gave new insight to his views because not only does he define simpler words such as 'belief' and 'argument,' but themes and ideas as well.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite definitions were for the words mind (Mind has its universal mode of action, namely, by final causation. The microscopist looks to see whether the motions of a little creature show any purpose. If so, there is mind there.) and Phaneroscopy (because who has ever heard of that?)