Fred Reed's comments have inspired the following reply. The late American
novelist (winner of national book award and recent speaker at the annual
meeting of the National Endowment for the Humanities) Walker Percy, became
a strong advocate of Peirce's philosophy. Educated as a physician, but
forced to move to a climate compatible with his lung disease, and forced
to cut back on his medical practice, Percy gave a talk at the annual
meeting of the NEH titled "The Fateful Rift: The San Andreas Fault in the
Modern Mind", as the 18th Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities (May 3,
1989), 29 pages, expounding on Peirce's views, and trying to get the NEH
to recognize their significance for the humanities. Peirce's triadic
concept was a primary theme. This talk was broadcast on National Public
Television.
The Chronicle of Higher Education commented on the talk that it was not
likely to have much impact, although they felt it was a good talk. Since
that time six years ago, I haven't heard anyone comment about it lately,
and I haven't seen any reference to it in writings, but to me it was a
pinnacle talk about a vital topic.
Fred's insights add to my perception of this event. Curiously, this talk
was the same year that Harvard University devoted a week to remembrances
of Peirce (the 150th anniversary of his birth in Cambridge, MA, where
Harvard refused him a faculty post when he was in extreme poverty, due to
an old animosity of Harvard's president, who had Peirce in his class many
years earlier, and disliked Peirce's inattention to his lectures).
If you're interested in Peirce, Joseph Brent's recent and definitive
biography will interest you (Indiana Univ. Press). My view is that his
thoughts are highly relevant to LO's for some of the thoughts Fred
expressed. Yes, I did read it through to the end.
JOHN WARFIELD
Jwarfiel@osf1.gmu.edu