This volume contains the published contributions of one of the founders of modern logic and America’s greatest logical genius. It is not only of historical but of contemporary interest because of its many acute discussions of fundamental logical problems. To assist the general reader, the editors have prefixed to the text a selected list of important topics and have provided many footnotes and an exhaustive index.
The present, the longest volume of the series of Peirce’s Collected Papers, reveals most clearly his stature as a logician and a student of the foundations of mathematics. It includes not only some striking anticipations of recent work in logic and the foundations of mathematics but also a number of vital contributions to these subjects as now understood. In addition there is an entirely original treatment of logical diagrams which makes possible a detailed analysis of the process of reasoning and provides the link between modern logic and Peirce’s conception of pragmatism. It is the most advanced and important of the volumes on exact logic.
Volumes I-VIII of the Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce are being reissued in response to a growing interest in Peirce's thought--a development that was prophesied by John Dewey when he reviewed the first volume of these papers on their appearance in 1931. Writing in "The New Republic," Mr. Dewey said, "Nothing much will happen in philosophy as long as a main object among philosophers is defense of some formulated historical position. I do not know of any other thinker more calculated than Peirce to give emanipation from the intellectual fortifications of the past and to arouse a fresh imagination." Originally published as eight separate volumes, the Peirce papers appear in the new Belknap Press edition in four handsome books of two volumes each. The content is identical with that of the original edition: Volume I, "Principals of Philosophy"; Volume II, "Elements of Logic"; Volumes III, "Exact Logic"; Volumes IV, "The Simplest Mathematics"; Volumes V, "Pragmatism and Pragmaticism"; Volume VI, "Scientific Metaphysics"; Volume VII, "Science and Philosophy"; Volume VIII, "Reviews, Correspondence, and Bibliography,"