[peirce-l] Re: Death of Arnold Shepperson

[Gary Richmond]

John and Peirce list, This is very shocking and sad news of the loss of a fine scholar and, in my estimation, a great soul. Over the years Arnold and I had a number of fruitful email exchanges on Peirce-l and privately. Late last year he sent me a report which included analyses relating to the theme you mentioned in your note to the Peirce list. You wrote: [JC] Arnold was well on his way to giving a Peircean response to Arrow's paradox of social choice by rejecting Arrow's explicitly nominalist assumptions on ordering, using the idea of sequence instead, as found in Peirce. Arnold attached the paper to an off-list note which included these comments: Your mail discussing logica docens and logica utens in the classification of the sciences rang a bell for me [. . .] Earlier this year I completed a longish report on the problem of research policy in occupational health and safety in mining, in which, amongst other topics, I considered the role of the docens-utens classification in the process of evaluating research proposals in this field. Given that you have brought the subject up, but not anticipating any general interest on the list in my going-on about committees and research (about which Winston Churchill had some rather acerbic opinions, BTW), I thought I'd send you a PDF of the report just for something to read over the mid-semester break. . . . I left out the second Appendix because that's available in the Intelex CP (it's CSP's Note on the Economy of Research). In another email earlier this year Arnold wrote that he wanted "to rewrite the report to take greater account of the Impossibility Tradition in economics (Kenneth Arrow, Amartya K Sen, and others), with a view to exploring ways that the logic of relations in this tradition might benefit from an explicitly Peircean reworking of the topic"  Do you know if a completed version of the paper Arnold was working on is available, John? If so, would it be possible to make it available (perhaps Joe Ransdell could put it on Arisbe)? Yet, even  if a version of the paper Arnold was working on is not available, the report itself contains at least the seeds of this new line of research. For example, the "Executive Summary" includes this comment. [AS] We adapt elements of Peirce's (CP 7.130-157) economy of research, so as to infer some of the criteria upon which the potential for research projects into a culture of safety can be assessed when researchers apply for funding. The theory's main point is that there is in the field of research in general, a ratio between research expenditure and the increase in knowledge that can be graphed in a manner comparable to the supply and demand curves of classical economics (Peirce, CP 7.147) Because of the very specific nature and purpose of the report produced for the Safety in Mines Research Advisory Committee, and because Arnold's inquiry had progressed considerably further than when it was written, the later paper would certainly be preferable for getting at the direction of Arnold's recent research. However, that "Safety and the Logic of Hazard" is deeply informed by Peirce's work and was to some extent inspired by members of the list is clear from the "Acknowledgements" page of the paper which, besides including a special acknowledgment to "Professor Emeritus Joseph M. Ransdell", includes this general acknowledgment. [AS] The many contributors to the Peirce-l online discussion forum who have drawn my attention to aspects of the theories used in this paper, are too many to acknowledge individually. It goes without saying that my use of their contributions, and those of the named individuals and instiutions, is solely my own responsibility. Again, I am deeply saddened at the loss of this fine man and most ethical of Peirce-inspired scholars.   Gary Richmond PS I have sent the PDF file of "Safety and the Logic of Hazard" to Joe Ransdell requesting that it be added to Arisbe along with the two papers by Arnold now there. John Collier wrote: All, I have not been subscribed to the Peirce-L list since my university changed my email address to fit its corporate image. I was getting reports regularly from my student Arnold Shepperson. I regret to inform you that Arnold died yesterday of a heart attack. It was a shock to me, since I saw him shortly before his death, and he seemed fine, and very enthusiastic. It is a loss to me personally, but also, I think, to the wider world. Arnold was well on his way to giving a Peircean response to Arrow's paradox of social choice by rejecting Arrow's explicitly nominalist assumptions on ordering, using the idea of sequence instead, as found in Peirce. My best to everyone. John ---------- Professor John Collier                                     [EMAIL PROTECTED] Philosophy and Ethics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041 South Africa T: +27 (31) 260 3248 / 260 2292       F: +27 (31) 260 3031 http://www.nu.ac.za/undphil/collier/index.html  --- Message from peirce-l forum to subscriber [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- Message from peirce-l forum to subscriber archive@mail-archive.com