Gary, List: I agree with both your paragraphs.
First - I find Peirce’s writings on god as ‘assertions’ not an argument. I find nothing convincing in them since they seem to be statements of - not even of personal beliefs - but of rhetorical dogma. I know I’m not alone in this opinion - and perhaps their weakness as an argument is what has resulted in the number of scholarly papers written debating their theism vs their panentheism. And - they clash with his actual arguments about the world - ie- his triadic semiosis, his three categories; his agapastic evolution, his concept of Mind and of matter as effete mind, of matter as Mind hidebound with habits; , his concept of the continuous almost exploratory and novel development of Habits; his focus on the reality of freedom and chance and thus of deviations; his focus on cosmological origin from the nothing of chaos; his almost quantum-like outline of such an early cosmology ..and so on. These, to me, which form the bulk of Peirce’s work - are closely argued and coherent analyses - and therefore - I find Peirce’s few writings on god - which don’t fit into this vast analytic frame - unconvincing. And I admit, that personally, as an atheist - I’m not interested. I prefer Peirce’s Mind, his Thirdness, his Firstness, his agapasim…to explain the universe. Edwina > On Oct 4, 2024, at 5:05 PM, Gary Richmond <[email protected]> wrote: > > Edwina, List, > > I have come to the tentative conclusion that Peirce did indeed consider > himself to be a theist -- but of a peculiar stripe, I'd add -- yet that there > is material in his work that suggests to some -- of course, me included -- > that he might have become one and that, in any case, that one finds analyses, > such as those in "Evolutionary Love" but also elsewhere, which can be > profitably used to support panentheistic arguments. > > Finally, I find his theistic analyses problematic as clashing with other > ideas he expressed including those which suggest a loving divinity alive and > active in the world. In any event, as I noted earlier, the only facet of his > work I find problematic is his religious metaphysics which, in my opinion, is > much too closely tied to his religious beliefs at that time -- so not a full > expression of wholly independent research -- while yet having the admirable > goal in my opinion of bringing people closer to a scientific supported > acceptance of God. > > Best, > > Gary R > > On Fri, Oct 4, 2024 at 4:15 PM Edwina Taborsky <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> List >> >> Further to the article by Soren Brier on Peirce as a panentheist, it’s a >> long and, I think, well argued paper, but I particularly recommend the >> notes! As Brier says, the argument is vs the ‘watchmaker God’ [ ie, the >> external deterministic agent] but sees the universe as an evolutionary force >> within the three categories and semiosic triads. >> >> And see note 22 - vs ‘Concord transcendentalism’, or solely >> transcendentalism. >> >> I note also, Brier’s comment that Peirce’s views are close to ‘quantum field >> theory’ [ p 35] >> And that Peirce believed in ‘creation ex nihilo [out of nothing] p 36. >> >> Edwina >> _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ >> ARISBE: THE PEIRCE GATEWAY is now at >> https://cspeirce.com <https://cspeirce.com/> and, just as well, at >> https://www.cspeirce.com <https://www.cspeirce.com/> . It'll take a while >> to repair / update all the links! >> ► PEIRCE-L subscribers: Click on "Reply List" or "Reply All" to REPLY ON >> PEIRCE-L to this message. PEIRCE-L posts should go to >> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> . >> ► To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message NOT to PEIRCE-L but to [email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]> with UNSUBSCRIBE PEIRCE-L in the SUBJECT LINE >> of the message and nothing in the body. More at >> https://list.iupui.edu/sympa/help/user-signoff.html . >> ► PEIRCE-L is owned by THE PEIRCE GROUP; moderated by Gary Richmond; and >> co-managed by him and Ben Udell.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ARISBE: THE PEIRCE GATEWAY is now at https://cspeirce.com and, just as well, at https://www.cspeirce.com . It'll take a while to repair / update all the links! ► PEIRCE-L subscribers: Click on "Reply List" or "Reply All" to REPLY ON PEIRCE-L to this message. PEIRCE-L posts should go to [email protected] . ► To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message NOT to PEIRCE-L but to [email protected] with UNSUBSCRIBE PEIRCE-L in the SUBJECT LINE of the message and nothing in the body. More at https://list.iupui.edu/sympa/help/user-signoff.html . ► PEIRCE-L is owned by THE PEIRCE GROUP; moderated by Gary Richmond; and co-managed by him and Ben Udell.
