Charles S. Peirce (1839 – 1914) was unarguably America’s greatest thinker and one of the world’s greatest philosophers. He created four major branches of philosophy: phenomenology (20 years before Husserl); process philosophy (20 years before Whitehead); pragmatism; and his own personal system, pragmaticism. He was a founder or major contributor to the sciences of semiotics, logic, mathematics, physics, information science, computer science, chemical engineering, structural engineering, psychology, linguistics, sociology, economics, metaphysics, theology, metrology, and many others. Twentieth century semiotics, logic, and mathematics, as we know them, would have been impossible without his contributions.

Among his developments include: quantifier theory for the predicate calculus, theory of the sign for semiotics, relational algebra for logic, non-associative algebra for mathematics, theory of probability for mathematics, theory of error analysis for physics, theory of experimental design for mathematical statistics, the principle of using a wavelength of light to measure length for physics, the methods of photometric measurement and spectrographic analysis of stars for astronomy, the methods of gravitational measurement for geodesy, and theories of continuity and of infinity for mathematics. Among his signal inventions include: the acetylene lamp, and the quincuncial projection for map-making. Among his engineering feats include: a system of dams for what is now called “The St. Lawrence Seaway”, an acetylene lighting system, and a major bridge for New York City.

Peirce is best characterized as combining Critical Realism with Concrete Idealism, modified by six principles (all discovered by Peirce himself). These are 1) the principle of community (epistemology); 2) the principle of genuine doubt (inquiry); 3) the pragmatic principle (meaning); 4) the principle of synechism (continuity); 5) the principle of tychism (chance); and 6) the principle of fallibility (the imperfection of man). He presented all this in a brand new process oriented language also developed by Peirce himself (20 years before Whitehead). He called this whole system “practical common-sensism”, or as he later called it, “pragmaticism”.

Writings by Charles Sanders Peirce:

18xx Photometric Measurements. The only book actually published by Peirce during his lifetime.

1931-35 The Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce. Vols. I-VI (Ed. by Charles Hartshorne and Paul Weiss), Cambridge, MA: Harvard U.P.

1958 The Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce. Vols. VII-VIII (Ed. by Arthur W. Burks), Cambridge, MA: Harvard U.P. Note! The standard citation format for the above two collections is CPx.yyy where x is the volume number and yyy is the paragraph number.

1972-99 The Writings of Charles S. Peirce: a Chronological Edition. (Vols. I-VI published to date. Ed. by the Peirce Edition Project staff), Bloomington, IN: Indiana U.P. Note! The standard citation for the above collection is Wx:yyy where x is the volume number and yyy is the page number.

Peirce published many individual articles, essays, and reports thruout his life – far too many to list here. However most of them and all of the above, with the exception of Photometric Measurements and the Writings edition, are reproduced in full, in electronically machine searchable versions by InteLex Corporation in their Past Masters series. Available at www.nlx.com. There are two secondary Peircean literatures, that written after publication of the CP collection and that written after publication of the W collection. A tertiary literature has even started to develop after publication of the W series. A very small percentage of this tertiary literature is represented by the following list based on Peirce’s religious writings.

Panesa, R.T.