Peirce's Scientific Metaphysics: The Philosophy of Chance, Law, and Evolution

by Andrew Reynolds

Overview

Peirce's Scientific Metaphysics is the first book devoted to understanding Charles Sanders Peirce's (1839-1914) metaphysics from the perspective of the scientific questions that motivated his thinking. While offering a detailed account of the scientific ideas and theories essential for understanding Peirce's metaphysical system, this book is written in a manner accessible to the non-specialist.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826513960
Publisher:	Vanderbilt University Press
Publication date:	06/03/2002
Series:	Vanderbilt Library of American Philosophy Series
Edition description:	1ST
Pages:	248
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Andrew Reynolds is assistant professor in the department of philosophy and religious studies at the University College of Cape Breton, Sydney, Nova Scotia.

Table of Contents

	Texts and Abbreviations	ix
	Acknowledgments	xi
	Introduction	1
1	Scientific and Philosophical Background	5
	Naturphilosophie, Evolution, and the Law of Large Numbers	5
	Agnosticism, Necessitarianism, and the Mechanical Philosophy	7
	Synechism, Tychism, and Agapism	10
	Motivations for a Cosmology	13
	What Is a Hypothesis?	14
	Synechism	17
	Objective Idealism	18
	A Summary Statement of the Cosmology	23
	Summary	25
2	Irreversibility in Physics	26
	Nineteenth-Century Physics	27
	The Laws of Motion	28
	The Law of Vis Viva	30
	The Conservation of Energy Principle	32
	The Doctrine of the Conservation of Energy	37
	Conditions for Reversibility	39
	The Second Law of Thermodynamics, the Kinetic Theory of Gases, and the Law of Large Numbers	41
	Summary	47
3	Irreversibility in Psychics	49
	The Law of Mind	49
	Causation and Mental Activity	54
	Teleology and the Action of Mind	57
	The Problem of Mind-Matter Reductionism	59
	What Is Time?	64
	Summary	75
4	Irreversibility in Physiology and Evolution	76
	Physiology	77
	The Molecular Theory of Protoplasm	77
	Protoplasm, Habit, and Nutrition	81
	Evolution	97
	The Influence of Darwin	97
	Peirce's Classification of Evolutionary Philosophies	106
	Summary	108
5	Cosmology and Synechism	110
	Order Out of Chaos	113
	Variation and the Law of Large Numbers	118
	Agapasm and the Law of Large Numbers	121
	Rival Cosmologies	124
	Elliptic Philosophy	125
	Parabolic Philosophy	126
	Hyperbolic Philosophy	130
	Peirce's Acquaintance with Modern Physics	137
6	Chance and Law	142
	What Is Chance?	143
	The Laws of Chance	157
	The Law of Habit	159
	The Redundancy Problem	161
	The Incompatibility Problem	162
	Peirce and Prigogine	173
7	Conclusion	176
	Notes	185
	Bibliography	213
	Index	223

Editorial Reviews

Those grappling with the intricacies of Peirceís philosophy will be much farther ahead after reading Reynoldís book.
—Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences

From the Publisher