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'''Charles Sanders Peirce''' (10 September 10 1839 – 19 April 1914) was an American [[polymath]], born in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]. Although educated as a chemist and employed as a scientist for 30 years, it is for his contributions to logic, mathematics, philosophy, and the theory of signs, or ''[[semeiotic]]'', that he is largely appreciated today.  The philosopher [[Paul Weiss (philosopher)|Paul Weiss]], writing in the ''[[Dictionary of American Biography]]'' for [[1934]], called Peirce "the most original and versatile of American philosophers and America's greatest logician" (Brent, 1).

 

'''Charles Sanders Peirce''' ([[September 10]], [[1839]] – [[April 19]], [[1914]]) was an American [[polymath]], born in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]]. Although educated as a chemist and employed as a scientist for 30 years, it is for his contributions to logic, mathematics, philosophy, and the theory of signs, or ''[[semeiotic]]'', that he is largely appreciated today.  The philosopher [[Paul Weiss (philosopher)|Paul Weiss]], writing in the ''[[Dictionary of American Biography]]'' for [[1934]], called Peirce "the most original and versatile of American philosophers and America's greatest logician" (Brent, 1).

The secondary literature on Peirce was scant until after [[World War II]].  Much of his huge output is still unpublished.  An innovator in fields such as logic, mathematics, [[philosophy of science]], research methodology, [[semiotics]], [[epistemology]], and [[metaphysics]], he considered himself a logician first and foremost.  While he made major contributions to the development of formal logic as it is known today, ''logic'' for him encompassed much of what is now studied under the philosophies of knowledge, language, and science.  Peirce saw logic as the formal branch of the theory of signs, or ''[[semiotics]]'', here using ''formal'' in the sense of ''[[normative]]'' or what he called ''quasi-necessary''.  In 1886, he saw that logical operations could be carried out by electrical switching circuits, an idea used decades later in the development of [[electronic computer]]s.

The secondary literature on Peirce was scant until after [[World War II]].  Much of his huge output is still unpublished.  An innovator in fields such as logic, mathematics, [[philosophy of science]], research methodology, [[semiotics]], [[epistemology]], and [[metaphysics]], he considered himself a logician first and foremost.  While he made major contributions to the development of formal logic as it is known today, ''logic'' for him encompassed much of what is now studied under the philosophies of knowledge, language, and science.  Peirce saw logic as the formal branch of the theory of signs, or ''[[semiotics]]'', here using ''formal'' in the sense of ''[[normative]]'' or what he called ''quasi-necessary''.  In 1886, he saw that logical operations could be carried out by electrical switching circuits, an idea used decades later in the development of [[electronic computer]]s.