Abstract

In a world of ever-growing specialization, the issue of complexity attracts a good amount of attention from cross-disciplinary points of view. Charles S. Peirce’s thought may help not only to shoulder once again philosophical responsibility which has been largely abdicated by much of 20th century philosophy, but also to tackle some of the most stubborn contemporary problems. The founder of pragmatism identified one century ago most of these problems, and he also mapped out some paths that may be followed to overcome the poverty of contemporary scientistic reductionism. One of these paths is related with the issue of complexity that lies at the heart of all his conception. Along this line, the aim of this article is to describe what Peirce can teach about complexity to contemporary researchers from different scientific backgrounds. The article is divided in three sections: 1) a brief presentation of Peirce, stressing his personal authority as a scientist philosopher; 2) the theory of categories as the heart of complexity according to Peirce and, finally, 3) some consequences of Peirce’s notion of complexity in relation with abduction and creativity, semiosis, cross-disciplinarity and communication.