Abstract

This book is the first radical approach to Peirce's Pragmatism. It goes to the root of Peirce's own concept of Pragmatism as the method from which is derived Semiotics or the Theory of Signs. It relies on Peirce's writings, that is, primary sources in the unpublished manuscripts rather than the secondary material of writings about Peirce. From various perspectives the book explores the process how ideas, that is, sign-systems, evolve and become increasingly complex. Peirce's cosmology is introduced together with his special understanding of himself as an Idealist.