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600Lessons from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill: A Case Study in Retributive and Corrective Justice for Harm to the Environment (2nd ed.)Ethics and the Environment 15 (2): 1. 2010.The settlements surrounding the Exxon Valdez oil spill prove to be an interesting case of retributive and corrective justice in regard to damage to the ecology of the commons, particularly in light of the recent Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. After reviewing the harm done to the ecology of Prince William Sound by the spill, and an account of Exxon Corporation’s responsibility, I examine the details of the litigation, particularly the Supreme Court decision in this matter. In the …Read more
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382Why happiness is of marginal value in ethical decision-makingJournal of Value Inquiry 39 (3-4): 325-344. 2005.In the last few decades psychologists have gained a clearer picture of the notion of happiness and a more sophisticated account of its explanation. Their research has serious consequences for any ethic based on the maximization of happiness, especially John Stuart Mill’s classical eudaimonistic utilitarianism. In the most general terms, the research indicates that a congenital basis for homeostatic levels of happiness in populations, the hedonic treadmill effect, and other personality fact…Read more
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169Peirce's Esthetics as a Science of Ideal EndsCognitio 18 (2): 205-229. 2018.Peirce considered his esthetics to be one of a trio of normative sciences. Ostensibly, the sciences of logic, ethics and esthetics, would study the traditional norms of truth, goodness and beauty. Logic was normative in the sense that it studied how people ought to reason, if truth is to be the result. Similarly, ethics is the study of how we ought to conduct ourselves, if good is to happen. At the same time, Peirce seems to have difficulty fitting the study of the beautiful into this sort of n…Read more
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144Re-Thinking the Pragmatic Theory of Meaning: Repensando a Teoria Pragmática do SignificadoCognitio 10 (1): 61-79. 2009.A close reading of Peirce’s pragmatic maxim shows a correlation between meaning and purpose. If the meaning of a concept, proposition or hypothesis is clarified by formulating its practical effects, those also can be articulated as practical maxims. To the extent that the hypotheses or propositions upon which they are based are true, practical maxims recommend reliable courses of action. This can be translated into a broader claim of an integral relation between semiosis and goal-directed or te…Read more
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102Charles Peirce's Rhetoric and the Pedagogy of Active LearningEducational Philosophy and Theory 45 (7): 781-788. 2013.Although John Dewey has had the most profound effect on education, less is known about the philosophy of education of the original founder of pragmatism, Charles Peirce Using Peirce’s theory of formal rhetoric, I try to show that Peirce’s philosophy of education, when fully understood, is aligned with Dewey’s pedagogy of experiential learning, and can provide a justification for the promotion of active learning in the classroom. Peirce’s rhetoric, as one part of his logical or semiotic theory, a…Read more
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98Peirce's New RhetoricTransactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 36 (4): 439-477. 2000.A comprehensive account of Peirce's third branch of semiotic--universal or speculative rhetoric. The article places Peirce's work in the context of the rhetorical tradition. Unlike the direction that analytic and positivist philosophy took, Peirce does not separate logic and rhetoric. Instead Peirce uses his novel theory of rhetoric to show how logic and scientific investigation is tied to a cooperative community of inquiry.
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75The narrative ethics of leopold'ssand county almanacEthics and the Environment 8 (2): 42-70. 2003.Although philosophers often focus on the essays of Leopold's Sand County Almanac, especially "The Land Ethic," there is also a normative argument present in the stories that comprise most of the book. In fact the shack stories may be more persuasive, with a subtlety and complexity not available in his prose piece. This paper develops a narrative ethics methodology gleaned from rhetoric theory, and current interest in narrative ethics among literary theorists, in order to discern the normative un…Read more
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702014 Presidential Address: Peirce's Idea of Ethics as a Normative ScienceTransactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 50 (4): 459. 2014.In his later years, Peirce proposed the idea of ethics as a normative science. Is such a thing possible? John Dewey asks “whether scientific propositions about the direction of human conduct, about any situation into which the idea of should enters, are possible; and, if so, of what sort they are and the grounds upon which they rest”. If the meaning of ‘science’ here is taken in its contemporary sense—the way in which physics or biology might be understood—then normative science implies ethical …Read more
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49. Next, in a chapter on grammar, Liszka explores Peirce's notions of the essential characteristics of signs, their principal components, sign typology, and classification. This is followed by a discussion of critical logic, the proper use of signs in the investigation of the nature of things. Finally, Liszka explains universal rhetoric - the use of signs within discourse communities, the nature of communication, and the character of communities best suited to promote fruitful inquiry.
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42Teleology and Semiosis: Commentary on T. L. Short's Peirce's Theory of SignsTransactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 43 (4): 636-644. 2007.According to T. L. Short, Peirce's early thought - sign account of semeiotic engenders fatal flaws. On the one hand, it entails an infinite regressus of representation that cannot feasibly explain the connection between signs and objects and, on the other, an infinite progressus, leaving Peirce's theory without the wherewithal to account for the sign's meaning and significance. According to Short, Peirce overcomes the first flaw through the robust development of the notion of the index and the c…Read more
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36The narrative ethics of Leopold'sEthics and the Environment 8 (2): 42-70. 2003.: Although philosophers often focus on the essays of Leopold's Sand County Almanac, especially "The Land Ethic," there is also a normative argument present in the stories that comprise most of the book. In fact the shack stories may be more persuasive, with a subtlety and complexity not available in his prose piece. This paper develops a narrative ethics methodology gleaned from rhetoric theory, and current interest in narrative ethics among literary theorists, in order to discern the normative …Read more
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30Reductionism in Peirce’s sign classifications and its remedySemiotica 2019 (228): 153-172. 2019.Attempts to explain Peirce’s various classifications of signs have been a preoccupation of many Peirce scholars. Opinions are mixed about the sense, coherence, and fruitfulness of Peirce’s various versions, particularly the latter ones. I argue here that it is not a fruitful enterprise, even if sense could be made of them. Although Peirce makes his motivations for the classification of the sciences fairly explicit, it’s hard to find Peirce’s reasons for sign classification. More importantly, I t…Read more
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28Pragmatist Ethics: A Problem-Based Approach to What MattersSuny American Philosophy and C. 2021.Argues that the path to the good life does not consist in working toward some abstract concept of the good, but rather by ameliorating the problems of the practices and institutions that make up our practical life.
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26The problematics of truth and solidarity in Peirce’s rhetoricSemiotica 2018 (220): 235-248. 2018.A strong case can be made that Peirce’s formal rhetoric is primarily a theory of inquiry. Peirce’s convergence theory of truth requires a community of inquiry enduring indefinitely over time. Such a community, then, must promote “solidarity” in Peirce’s terms, a consistent practice of cooperation among inquirers over generations. One of the tasks of his formal rhetoric, then, is to analyze the conditions for solidarity. Using Peirce’s framework of a belief-desire model for practical action, soli…Read more
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20Good and Bad Foundationalism: A Response to NielsenTransactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 29 (4). 1993.
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17Pragmatism and the Ethic of MeliorismEuropean Journal of Pragmatism and American Philosophy 13 (2). 2021.The founding pragmatists were meliorists, arguing for the possibility of improvement in the human condition. At the same time, they did not think that progress was something inevitable. It was constrained by a tragic order that would prevent any movement toward a utopian ideal and could always lead to regress. Because they could not abide the notion of an absolute, pre-determined sense of the good, they did not subscribe to a moral perfectionism as well. Instead, Peirce, James and Dewey argued i…Read more
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16Kósmos Noetós: The Metaphysical Architecture of Charles S. Peirce Cham by Ivo IbriTransactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 54 (4): 568-573. 2019.Originally published in 1992 in Portuguese, the English translation of the 2015, updated edition of Kósmos Noetós will open Ivo Ibri's fine book to a wider audience. The book ventures into the most difficult territory of Peirce's body of work. The topics of Prof. Ibri's study include the more recondite matters of Peirce's objective idealism, synechism, tychism, cosmology, and the accounts of reality. Starting with the phenomenology, Ibri attempts a coherent picture of Peirce's metaphysics, using…Read more