Peirce's Account of Purposefulness

This book presents a systematic interpretation of Charles S. Peirce's work based on a Kantian understanding of his teleological account of thought and inquiry. Departing from readings that contrast Peirce's treatment of purpose, end, and teleology with his early studies of Kant, Gabriele Gava instead argues that focusing on Peirce's purposefulness as a necessary regulative (in the Kantian sense) condition for inquiry and semiotic processes allows for a transcendental interpretation of Peirce's philosophical project.

Gabriele Gava is research associate at Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany

Introduction 1. The Architectonic and the Fundamental Elements of Thought and Sign Processes 2. Methodeutic and Speculative Rhetoric 3. How Are "Synthetical" Judgments Possible? 4. Teleology in Peirce's Evolutionary Metaphysics 5. Peirce and Transcendental Philosophy 6. Pragmatism and Common Sense Conclusion