Charles S. Peirce's Philosophy of Value

Abstract

The critical analysis examines the concept of value in C. S. Peirce's philosophical writings, distinguishing between value as (1) worth, (2) meaning, (3) significance, (4) semiotic value, (5) in the mathematical sense, (6) money value, and (7) value by other names. The focus is on value in the sense of Peirce's three normative sciences aesthetics, ethics, and logic. The values associated with them are detailed in their phenomenological contexts and with respect to a supreme value, the summum bonum. Peirce's objections against utilitarian conceptions of value in the philosophy of his century and his conception of scientific research as a value in itself are the author's final topic.