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"Sheriff's text moves the "guess" to a new level of understanding, while integrating much of Peirce's philosophy, and provokes many questions." -- Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy Newletter

"The purpose of Sheriff's work is to expound Peirce's unified theory of the universe -- from cosmology to semiotic -- and to discuss its ramifications for how we should live. He concludes that Peirce has given us a theory we can live with. The book makes an important contribution to philosophy of life and to the humanities in general."  -- Nathan Houser

"In clear and concise prose, Sheriff describes Peirce's 'theory of everything,' a vision of cosmic and human meaning that offers a positive alternative to popular pessimistic and relativistic approaches to life and meaning." -- Peirce Project Newsletter

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The enigmatic thought of Charles S. Peirce (1839-1914), considered by many to be one of the great philosophers of all time, involves inquiry not only into virtually all branches and sources of modern semiotics, physics, cognitive sciences, and mathematics, but also logic, which he understood to be the only useful approach to the riddle of reality.

This book represents an attempt to outline an analytical method based on Charles Peirce’s least explored branch of philosophy, which is his evolutionary cosmology, and his notion that the universe is made of an ‘effete mind.’ The chief argument conceives of human discourse as a giant metaphor in regard to outside reality. The metaphors arise in our imagination as lightning-fast schemes for acting, speaking, or thinking. To illustrate this, each chapter will present a well-known metaphor and explain how it is unfolded and conceptualized according to the new method for revealing meaning.

This original work will interest students and scholars in many fields including semiotics, linguistics and philosophy.