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Birth
Charles Sanders Peirce was born Sept. 10, 1839 in Cambridge, Mass., U.S. Peirce would become a prolific writer but these works which were published over a period of 57 years covered an array of topics with his contributions to the philosophy of science being prominent in his series "Logic of Science" and "A Guess at the Riddle". -
Graduated Harvard
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Publishes Logic of Science series in Popular Science Monthly
Pierce first elaborates on his version of Pragmatism in a 4 part series. Here Pierce expounds on his thoughts of belief in individuals as well as communal, the importance and role of instincts as well as their untrustworthiness, the scientific method , and fixation of beliefs among other topics. (Trout) -
How to Make Our Ideas Clear
How to Make Our Ideas Clear by Philosophy Toons
Published as part of his Logic of Science series, Peirce discusses the difference between clear ideas vs. obscure ideas and the pragmatic maxim. -
A Guess At The Riddle
[I intend] to make a philosophy like that of Aristotle, that is to say, to outline a theory so comprehensive that, for a long time to come, the entire work of human reason, in philosophy of every school and kind, in mathematics, in psychology, in physical science, in history, in sociology, and in whatever other department there may be, shall appear as the filling up of its details. The first step toward this is to find simple concepts applicable to every subject. (Peirce, 247) -
Death
C.S. Peirce died in Milford, PA at the age of 74. His last years were lived in poverty and recognition for his contributions to society would not be fully recognized until years later. Max Fisch would later ask and answer "Who is the most original and the most versatile intellect that the Americas have so far produced? The answer "Charles S. Peirce" is uncontested, because any second would be so far behind as not to be worth nominating." (Brent, 2)