I am a PhD student at the University of Oregon. I specialize in theories about categories, phenomenological and semiotic inquiries into logic, and metaphysical systems in the history of philosophy. My research tends to focus on Aristotle and Medieval Philosophy, Kant and German Idealism, American Philosophy and Pragmatism, but especially Charles S. Peirce and Josiah Royce. Presently, I am working on a dissertation about the history of categories and semiotics in these philosophical traditions.
There is an abundance of scholarship on John Dewey. Dewey's writings are vast, so scholars try to... more There is an abundance of scholarship on John Dewey. Dewey's writings are vast, so scholars try to find the crux that connects their many themes into a distinctive vision for philosophy and life. Many claim that the democratic way of life is the center of Dewey's philosophical vision.1 Others claim that Dewey's response to Darwin was the impetus for a philosophical experimentalism that could envision a better life by responding to the needs in an age of modern industry.2 Some claim that the crux is a dynamic and non-mechanistic naturalism that Dewey develops to critically undo the dualisms of tradition, most especially the distinction between nature and culture.3 There has even been an effort to interpret each of these themes within Dewey's theory about the conditions for aesthetics in life, the life of art within an experience, and an experience of life as art.4 Arguably, no strategy is more preferable than another because each is plausible. Each plausibly selects a crux that connects the many themes across an array of writings, since Dewey's philosophy is multimodal by design and shuns reductionism for pluralism. Even amidst plurality, through many modes of activity and existence, each of these themes and all of Dewey's writings have a concern for meaning in life and how life is a process of meaning-making.5 And yet, meaning, for Dewey, is irreducible to verbal or written language and is made by more than propositions, but extends beyond the divide of nature and culture to potentially encompass all of life and life's processes. This expansive conception of meaning has more in common with semiotics, especially those of Charles Sanders Peirce, than any philosophy of language. And yet almost no scholar has sought to semiotically interpret Dewey's philosophy as a whole. Perhaps, though, Dewey's multimodal and pluralistic vision for philosophy and life also has a semiotic crux that intersects with the others in ways that are fundamentally important
Transactions of the Charles Sanders Peirce Society, 2024
Scholars often argue that Charles Sanders Peirce was responsible for Josiah Royce's semiotic turn... more Scholars often argue that Charles Sanders Peirce was responsible for Josiah Royce's semiotic turn in _The Problem of Christianity_ of 1913. Thus scholars tend to assume that a _Roycean_ approach to semiotics was a later development and derives almost entirely from Peirce's semiotics. Far from a later development, Royce probably read Peirce much earlier. Indeed, even before Royce had read Peirce, the kernel of a Rocyean approach to semiotics is found in the dissertation of 1878. Thus the present essay will prove that a Roycean approach to semiotics did not have a basis in Peirce's semiotics, whether early or later, but rather grew out of Royce's earliest writings. The first part will reconstruct the early pragmatism in the dissertation of 1878 and find that the kernal of a Roycean approach to semiotics was the idea of a _mediating third_. The second part will show how the disseration's pragmatism develops into a phenomenology of time that contains Royce's earliest semiosic insights. The third part will explain how the early pragmatism and phenomenology come together in the argument on the possibility of error from Royce's _The Religious Aspect of Philosophy_ of 1885. The possibility of error is Royce's original argument for absolute idealism, so the essay will conclude that a Roycean approach to semiotics entails a semiotics of the absolute.
Many scholars believe "On a New List of Categories" is a metaphysical or transcendental deduction... more Many scholars believe "On a New List of Categories" is a metaphysical or transcendental deduction. The present essay will argue that Peirce derives the categories by induction and validates their order by prescision. Then the article shall solicit aid from Peirce's early and later writings to explain how the new way to list the categories can serve as a genealogy of signifi cation: how the diff erent types of term, proposition, and argument emerge in the process of reasoning as the diff erent types of signs. Thus, the genealogy of signifi cation would then qualify as a phenomenology of logic as a science of semiotics. Such a science of semiotics will have three types of comparison corresponding to the sign-relation in illation: namely, uniparance, diaparance, and comparance. Then the three types of comparison will occasion three types of relative in diff erent types of propositions: namely, concurrents, disquiparants, and equiparants. Finally, the three types of relative will occasion the diff erent types of sign corresponding to the diff erent types of term: namely, icons, indices, and symbols. With this classifi cation, there is then an explanation of how the process of reasoning is a semiotic process with three forms of valid argument: namely, hypothesis, induction, and deduction.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2019
A scholarly introduction to 'The Teachings of Friedrich Nietzsche,' a manuscript by Josiah Royce,... more A scholarly introduction to 'The Teachings of Friedrich Nietzsche,' a manuscript by Josiah Royce, c. 1900, on the ethical titanism of the German philosopher. One of the earliest engagements with Nietzsche in America.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2019
A scholarly introduction to Philosophy IX, a seminar on metaphysics, given by Josiah Royce in 189... more A scholarly introduction to Philosophy IX, a seminar on metaphysics, given by Josiah Royce in 1897-1898. Of interest to scholars working on Josiah Royce's logic, epistemology, and metaphysics around the time of '"The World and the Individual" of 1900-1901.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2019
A scholarly introduction to 'The Carnegie Foundation,' given by Josiah Royce in 1915. Of interest... more A scholarly introduction to 'The Carnegie Foundation,' given by Josiah Royce in 1915. Of interest to scholars working on Royce's philosophy of education and social provincialism.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2019
A scholarly introduction to 'Address before the Hebraic Society, given by Josiah Royce in 1910. O... more A scholarly introduction to 'Address before the Hebraic Society, given by Josiah Royce in 1910. Of interest to scholars working on Royce's philosophy of religion and its relation to William James.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2019
A scholarly introduction to 'The Lonesome Lover's Grave,' a work of juvenilia written by Josiah R... more A scholarly introduction to 'The Lonesome Lover's Grave,' a work of juvenilia written by Josiah Royce around 1870. Of interest to scholars working Royce's life.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2019
A scholarly introduction to 'Speculation as to the Nature of Mind, an early manuscript from Josia... more A scholarly introduction to 'Speculation as to the Nature of Mind, an early manuscript from Josiah Royce, c. 1888. Of interest to scholars working on Royce's social psychology and epistemology.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2019
A scholarly introduction to 'Sketch of the Infinitesimal Calculus,' an early manuscript from Josi... more A scholarly introduction to 'Sketch of the Infinitesimal Calculus,' an early manuscript from Josiah Royce, c. 1880, which articulates an early pragmatic theory of epistemology, phenomenology, protosemiotics, & a nascent metaphysics of absolute idealism within a post-Kantian context.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2019
A scholarly introduction to 'The Interpretation of Consciousness,' an early manuscript from Josia... more A scholarly introduction to 'The Interpretation of Consciousness,' an early manuscript from Josiah Royce, c. 1880, which articulates an early pragmatic theory of epistemology, phenomenology, protosemiotics, & a nascent metaphysics of absolute idealism within a post-Kantian context.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2019
A scholarly introduction to 'The Possibility of Experience,' an early manuscript from Josiah Royc... more A scholarly introduction to 'The Possibility of Experience,' an early manuscript from Josiah Royce, c. 1880, which articulates an early pragmatic theory of epistemology, phenomenology, protosemiotics, & a nascent metaphysics of absolute idealism within a post-Kantian context.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2019
A scholarly introduction to 'The Harrison Lectures,' given by Josiah Royce in 1911. Of interest t... more A scholarly introduction to 'The Harrison Lectures,' given by Josiah Royce in 1911. Of interest to scholars working on Royce's relation to pragmatism and his logic and metaphysics of absolute pragmatism.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2018
A scholarly introduction to autobiographical remarks from Josiah Royce in 1886. Of interest to sc... more A scholarly introduction to autobiographical remarks from Josiah Royce in 1886. Of interest to scholars working on Royce's life.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2018
A scholarly introduction to 'The New Orleans Lectures,' given by Josiah Royce in 1897. Of interes... more A scholarly introduction to 'The New Orleans Lectures,' given by Josiah Royce in 1897. Of interest to scholars working in Royce's social psychology and epistemology.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2018
A scholarly introduction to 'The Columbia Lectures,' given by Josiah Royce in 1904. Of interest t... more A scholarly introduction to 'The Columbia Lectures,' given by Josiah Royce in 1904. Of interest to scholars in Royce's logic and metaphysics in the time around the publication of "The World and the Individual" in 1900-1901.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2017
A scholarly introduction to an 'Address to the Yale Theological Club,' given by Josiah Royce in ... more A scholarly introduction to an 'Address to the Yale Theological Club,' given by Josiah Royce in 1910. Of interest to scholars working on Royce's philosophy of religion, especially "On the Sources of Religious Insight" and the "Philosophy of Loyalty."
There is an abundance of scholarship on John Dewey. Dewey's writings are vast, so scholars try to... more There is an abundance of scholarship on John Dewey. Dewey's writings are vast, so scholars try to find the crux that connects their many themes into a distinctive vision for philosophy and life. Many claim that the democratic way of life is the center of Dewey's philosophical vision.1 Others claim that Dewey's response to Darwin was the impetus for a philosophical experimentalism that could envision a better life by responding to the needs in an age of modern industry.2 Some claim that the crux is a dynamic and non-mechanistic naturalism that Dewey develops to critically undo the dualisms of tradition, most especially the distinction between nature and culture.3 There has even been an effort to interpret each of these themes within Dewey's theory about the conditions for aesthetics in life, the life of art within an experience, and an experience of life as art.4 Arguably, no strategy is more preferable than another because each is plausible. Each plausibly selects a crux that connects the many themes across an array of writings, since Dewey's philosophy is multimodal by design and shuns reductionism for pluralism. Even amidst plurality, through many modes of activity and existence, each of these themes and all of Dewey's writings have a concern for meaning in life and how life is a process of meaning-making.5 And yet, meaning, for Dewey, is irreducible to verbal or written language and is made by more than propositions, but extends beyond the divide of nature and culture to potentially encompass all of life and life's processes. This expansive conception of meaning has more in common with semiotics, especially those of Charles Sanders Peirce, than any philosophy of language. And yet almost no scholar has sought to semiotically interpret Dewey's philosophy as a whole. Perhaps, though, Dewey's multimodal and pluralistic vision for philosophy and life also has a semiotic crux that intersects with the others in ways that are fundamentally important
Transactions of the Charles Sanders Peirce Society, 2024
Scholars often argue that Charles Sanders Peirce was responsible for Josiah Royce's semiotic turn... more Scholars often argue that Charles Sanders Peirce was responsible for Josiah Royce's semiotic turn in _The Problem of Christianity_ of 1913. Thus scholars tend to assume that a _Roycean_ approach to semiotics was a later development and derives almost entirely from Peirce's semiotics. Far from a later development, Royce probably read Peirce much earlier. Indeed, even before Royce had read Peirce, the kernel of a Rocyean approach to semiotics is found in the dissertation of 1878. Thus the present essay will prove that a Roycean approach to semiotics did not have a basis in Peirce's semiotics, whether early or later, but rather grew out of Royce's earliest writings. The first part will reconstruct the early pragmatism in the dissertation of 1878 and find that the kernal of a Roycean approach to semiotics was the idea of a _mediating third_. The second part will show how the disseration's pragmatism develops into a phenomenology of time that contains Royce's earliest semiosic insights. The third part will explain how the early pragmatism and phenomenology come together in the argument on the possibility of error from Royce's _The Religious Aspect of Philosophy_ of 1885. The possibility of error is Royce's original argument for absolute idealism, so the essay will conclude that a Roycean approach to semiotics entails a semiotics of the absolute.
Many scholars believe "On a New List of Categories" is a metaphysical or transcendental deduction... more Many scholars believe "On a New List of Categories" is a metaphysical or transcendental deduction. The present essay will argue that Peirce derives the categories by induction and validates their order by prescision. Then the article shall solicit aid from Peirce's early and later writings to explain how the new way to list the categories can serve as a genealogy of signifi cation: how the diff erent types of term, proposition, and argument emerge in the process of reasoning as the diff erent types of signs. Thus, the genealogy of signifi cation would then qualify as a phenomenology of logic as a science of semiotics. Such a science of semiotics will have three types of comparison corresponding to the sign-relation in illation: namely, uniparance, diaparance, and comparance. Then the three types of comparison will occasion three types of relative in diff erent types of propositions: namely, concurrents, disquiparants, and equiparants. Finally, the three types of relative will occasion the diff erent types of sign corresponding to the diff erent types of term: namely, icons, indices, and symbols. With this classifi cation, there is then an explanation of how the process of reasoning is a semiotic process with three forms of valid argument: namely, hypothesis, induction, and deduction.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2019
A scholarly introduction to 'The Teachings of Friedrich Nietzsche,' a manuscript by Josiah Royce,... more A scholarly introduction to 'The Teachings of Friedrich Nietzsche,' a manuscript by Josiah Royce, c. 1900, on the ethical titanism of the German philosopher. One of the earliest engagements with Nietzsche in America.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2019
A scholarly introduction to Philosophy IX, a seminar on metaphysics, given by Josiah Royce in 189... more A scholarly introduction to Philosophy IX, a seminar on metaphysics, given by Josiah Royce in 1897-1898. Of interest to scholars working on Josiah Royce's logic, epistemology, and metaphysics around the time of '"The World and the Individual" of 1900-1901.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2019
A scholarly introduction to 'The Carnegie Foundation,' given by Josiah Royce in 1915. Of interest... more A scholarly introduction to 'The Carnegie Foundation,' given by Josiah Royce in 1915. Of interest to scholars working on Royce's philosophy of education and social provincialism.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2019
A scholarly introduction to 'Address before the Hebraic Society, given by Josiah Royce in 1910. O... more A scholarly introduction to 'Address before the Hebraic Society, given by Josiah Royce in 1910. Of interest to scholars working on Royce's philosophy of religion and its relation to William James.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2019
A scholarly introduction to 'The Lonesome Lover's Grave,' a work of juvenilia written by Josiah R... more A scholarly introduction to 'The Lonesome Lover's Grave,' a work of juvenilia written by Josiah Royce around 1870. Of interest to scholars working Royce's life.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2019
A scholarly introduction to 'Speculation as to the Nature of Mind, an early manuscript from Josia... more A scholarly introduction to 'Speculation as to the Nature of Mind, an early manuscript from Josiah Royce, c. 1888. Of interest to scholars working on Royce's social psychology and epistemology.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2019
A scholarly introduction to 'Sketch of the Infinitesimal Calculus,' an early manuscript from Josi... more A scholarly introduction to 'Sketch of the Infinitesimal Calculus,' an early manuscript from Josiah Royce, c. 1880, which articulates an early pragmatic theory of epistemology, phenomenology, protosemiotics, & a nascent metaphysics of absolute idealism within a post-Kantian context.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2019
A scholarly introduction to 'The Interpretation of Consciousness,' an early manuscript from Josia... more A scholarly introduction to 'The Interpretation of Consciousness,' an early manuscript from Josiah Royce, c. 1880, which articulates an early pragmatic theory of epistemology, phenomenology, protosemiotics, & a nascent metaphysics of absolute idealism within a post-Kantian context.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2019
A scholarly introduction to 'The Possibility of Experience,' an early manuscript from Josiah Royc... more A scholarly introduction to 'The Possibility of Experience,' an early manuscript from Josiah Royce, c. 1880, which articulates an early pragmatic theory of epistemology, phenomenology, protosemiotics, & a nascent metaphysics of absolute idealism within a post-Kantian context.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2019
A scholarly introduction to 'The Harrison Lectures,' given by Josiah Royce in 1911. Of interest t... more A scholarly introduction to 'The Harrison Lectures,' given by Josiah Royce in 1911. Of interest to scholars working on Royce's relation to pragmatism and his logic and metaphysics of absolute pragmatism.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2018
A scholarly introduction to autobiographical remarks from Josiah Royce in 1886. Of interest to sc... more A scholarly introduction to autobiographical remarks from Josiah Royce in 1886. Of interest to scholars working on Royce's life.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2018
A scholarly introduction to 'The New Orleans Lectures,' given by Josiah Royce in 1897. Of interes... more A scholarly introduction to 'The New Orleans Lectures,' given by Josiah Royce in 1897. Of interest to scholars working in Royce's social psychology and epistemology.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2018
A scholarly introduction to 'The Columbia Lectures,' given by Josiah Royce in 1904. Of interest t... more A scholarly introduction to 'The Columbia Lectures,' given by Josiah Royce in 1904. Of interest to scholars in Royce's logic and metaphysics in the time around the publication of "The World and the Individual" in 1900-1901.
The Writings of Josiah Royce: A Critical Edition, 2017
A scholarly introduction to an 'Address to the Yale Theological Club,' given by Josiah Royce in ... more A scholarly introduction to an 'Address to the Yale Theological Club,' given by Josiah Royce in 1910. Of interest to scholars working on Royce's philosophy of religion, especially "On the Sources of Religious Insight" and the "Philosophy of Loyalty."
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