Abstract

Charles Sanders Pierce was trained as a chemist . He is the founder of American Pragmatism. ;This dissertation, A Comsideration Of Peirce's Realism, maintains that Peirce chose, on the strength of logic, the realist's position. ;Peirce's realism contains three points. First, reality is composed of existing real things as well as real generals. Secondly, realism is that which is independent of, albeit related to, thought in general. Thirdly, Peirce strongly maintains that we do not experience experience but reality itself. These three elements are the foundations of this dissertation. ;There are five parts to this thesis. Part I considers the confusion prevalent among Peircean scholars. Part II introduces his early thought by considering youthful essays for their foundational value. The nature and function of 'words' show not only Peirce's interest in semiotics but also that knowledge and reality is language dependent. ;Part III, the main part, shows how Peirce approached his realism. The first section considers the debate between nominalism and realism. Section two looks at how reality is found in the external, law, the final opinion and the community. Section three develops less prevalent, but equally important, ways of understanding his realism, such as, mentality, time and the revelatory nature of reality. Section four presents three definitions of reality, spanning the years 1877 to 1908. Finally, in section five, Peirce declares that Scotus was too nominalistic and that his own position is more extreme. ;Part IV deals with the contention that Peirce was an idealist. Sections one and two deals with that idealism and presents arguments for and against that statement. Section three considers his statements on objective idealism. Section four deals with Peirce's finiousness , which stands on solid traditional ground. This section concludes that Peirce's idealism has an appropriate place within the context of his realism. ;Part V briefly considers the metaphysical concepts of Firstness, Secondness and Thirdness, as related to his reality. ;The conclusion of this dissertation is that Peirce was a consistent realist