Abstract

Peirce, like his father before him, was proud of his American heritage and was convinced of his fitness to stand shoulder to shoulder with scientists and philosophers from any place or time. Yet, as he well understood, scientific progress is a long- term communal enterprise and he knew that the roots of his own knowledge sprang from European thought. To understand Peirce as an American philosopher it is necessary to grasp that he was profoundly influenced by European thought and culture and to inquire how his American and European experiences worked together to form his ideas and shape him into the world philosopher he became.