Charles Sanders Peirce

American scientist, mathematician, logician, and philosopher; father of pragmatism

He was born on September 10, 1839 in Cambridge, Massachusetts and died on April 19, 1914.^[1][2] The scientist, mathematician, logician, and philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce, born September 10, 1839 and died April 19, 1914, is occasionally referred to as "the father of pragmatism" and was an American.^[1]

Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Born: 10 September 1839
Birthplace: Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died: 19 April 1914
Place of death: Milford, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Relatives: Benjamin Peirce (father)
Institutions: Johns Hopkins University
Alma mater: Harvard University
Region: Western philosophy

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Peirce was the son of Harvard mathematics and astronomy professor Benjamin Peirce and Sarah Hunt Mills.^[2] He earned a Bachelor of Arts, a Master of Arts in 1862, and a Bachelor of Science summa cum laude in chemistry from Harvard.^[3] From 1859 to 1891 he worked for the United States Coast Survey, mainly in geodesy and gravimetry.^[4] In 1879 he was appointed lecturer in logic at Johns Hopkins University, his only academic appointment.^[5]

He spent his later years in poverty at his property "Arisbe" near Milford, Pennsylvania, writing prolifically.^[6][7] He died in 1914 with much of his work unpublished.^[7][1] When he was twelve, Charles encountered Richard Whately's Elements of Logic through his older brother's copy, which sparked his enduring interest in logic and reasoning.^[2] Following the finalization of his divorce from first spouse Harriet Melusina Fay in 1883, Peirce wed Juliette, whose surname (sometimes given as Froissy or Pourtalai) and nationality (she spoke French) are not definitively known.^[8]

What the cited sources add

A. J. Ayer provided the Editorial Foreword to Gallie's book and credited Peirce's philosophy as "extremely important in itself"^[9] Ayer concluded that Peirce "is a philosopher from whom we still have much to learn"^[9] W. B. Gallie's 1952 volume "Peirce and Pragmatism" made Peirce's ideas known to readers across the globe.^[10][9]

References

Wikipedia, "Charles Sanders Peirce" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Note on the Pronunciation of 'Peirce'", Peirce Project Newsletter, December 1994; "Dictionary of American Biography", Arisbe, 1934; "Webster's Biographical Dictionary", Merriam-Webster, 1960; "Dictionary of American Biography", Arisbe, 1934; Russell, Bertrand (1959), Wisdom of the West, p. 276 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Charles Sanders Peirce" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Fisch, Max, "Introduction ", Writings of Charles S. Peirce, 1:xvii, find phrase "One episode". (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Charles Sanders Peirce" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Peirce, Charles Sanders" (1898), The National Cyclopedia of American Biography, v. 8, p. 409.; ; "Charles Sanders Peirce: A Life", Indiana University Press, 1998, p. 363–364 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Charles Sanders Peirce" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Burch, Robert (2001, 2010), "Charles Sanders Peirce", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy; ; Burch, Robert (2001, 2010), "Charles Sanders Peirce", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Charles Sanders Peirce" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Randall R. Dipert (1994) The Life and Logical Contributions of O. H. Mitchell, Peirce's Gifted Student; Houser, Nathan (1989), "Introduction ", Writings of Charles S. Peirce, 4:xxxviii, find "Eighty-nine". (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Charles Sanders Peirce" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Charles Sanders Peirce" (CC BY-SA 4.0) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Charles Sanders Peirce" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ; ; ; Houser, Nathan, "Introduction ", Writings of Charles S. Peirce, 6, first paragraph.; ; ; In 1885 ( ); in 1890 and 1900 (p. 273); in 1891 (pp. 215–216); and in 1892 (pp. 151–152, 222).; (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Charles Sanders Peirce" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gallie, "Peirce and pragmatism", Penguin Books, 1952 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
Gallie, "Peirce and pragmatism", Penguin Books, 1952. facts only, no text reused. archive.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Charles Sanders Peirce (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.