Abstract

Is the metaphysical articulation of the unity between science and sentiment either possible or desirable? Assuming an affirmative answer to both of these questions, this dissertation contends that the notion of agape may provide such a unity. Though agape has historical roots in the Christian notion of divine love, Charles S. Peirce considered this "law of Love" to be the fundamental principle giving coherence to the otherwise random, spontaneous evolution of the physical and psychical universe. The ability of agape to accomplish this unification is based upon the connection which Peirce drew between it and the logic of abduction, or hypothesis formation. By explicating the way in which agape acts as Peirce's primary evolutionary hypothesis, agape will be shown to act as a bridge between continuous evolutionary processes and discrete evolutionary events. As a similar debate is currently being explored regarding the evolution of quantum mechanical systems, this dissertation has the corollary purpose of indicating precisely how Peirce's notion of agape speaks to questions posed by contemporary quantum theorists