Abstract

America's brash approach to philosophy, with its overemphasis on novelty but also deep concern for philosophy's connection with human life and destiny, gives rise to a type of thought which appears as without thoroughness or polish and as far removed from what the Germans like to call grundsätzlich. And indeed it must be admitted that few American thinkers have attempted to express a philosophic vision on the comprehensive scale of most classical philosophers. What we have lost in scope, however, we have made up in precision; and one need have no hesitation in pointing to Peirce as an example of a philosopher second to none in his ability to formulate an idea with precision. Whatever the reasons, the main point is that American philosophy has invariably seemed negligible to Europeans, and they have not bothered to study it.