David Agler

Pennsylvania State University, Philosophy, Faculty Member

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My research areas are on Charles S. Peirce and the philosophy of language. At Penn State, I teach symbolic logic, informal logic, and other introductory philosophy courses. In my free time, I enjoy long-distance running and hiking.
Address: 228 Sparks Building
University Park, PA

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Louis de Saussure

University of Neuchâtel

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Books by David Agler

Symbolic Logic: Syntax, Semantics, and Proof

Brimming with visual examples of concepts, derivation rules, and proof strategies, this introduct... more Brimming with visual examples of concepts, derivation rules, and proof strategies, this introductory text is ideal for students with no previous experience in logic. Symbolic Logic: Syntax, Semantics, and Proof introduces students to the fundamental concepts, techniques, and topics involved in deductive reasoning. Agler guides students through the basics of symbolic logic by explaining the essentials of two classical systems, propositional and predicate logic. Students will learn translation both from formal language into English and from English into formal language; how to use truth trees and truth tables to test propositions for logical properties; and how to construct and strategically use derivation rules in proofs. This text makes this often confounding topic much more accessible with step-by-step example proofs, chapter glossaries of key terms, hundreds of homework problems and solutions for practice, and suggested further readings.

Papers by David Agler

Pragmatism and Vagueness: The Venetian Lectures by Claudine Tiercelin (Edited by Giovanni Tuzet)

Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society: A Quarterly Journal in American Philosophy, Mar 1, 2020

Reflections on Guide to Personal Knowledge

Tradition and Discovery: The Polanyi Society Periodical

Pragmatism and Vagueness: The Venetian Lectures by Claudine Tiercelin (Edited by Giovanni Tuzet)

Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society: A Quarterly Journal in American Philosophy, Mar 1, 2020

Symbolic logic: syntax, semantics, and proof

Hitchcock, Ethan Allen (1798–1870)

Hume and Peirce on the Ultimate Stability of Belief

Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 2015

Louis Loeb has argued that Hume is pessimistic while Peirce is optimistic about the attainment of... more Louis Loeb has argued that Hume is pessimistic while Peirce is optimistic about the attainment of fully stable beliefs. In contrast, we argue that Hume was optimistic about such attainment but only if the scope of philosophical investigation is limited to first-order explanatory questions. Further, we argue that Peirce, after reformulating the pragmatic maxim to accommodate the reality of counterfactuals, was pessimistic about such attainment. Finally, we articulate and respond to Peirce's objection that Hume's skeptical arguments in T 1.4.1 and his commitment to common sense indicate that Hume was confused about whether we could have stable beliefs at all.

W.T. Harris, Peirce, and the Charge of Nominalism

Hegel Bulletin, 2015

While a number of classical pragmatists crafted their philosophies in conjunction with a careful ... more While a number of classical pragmatists crafted their philosophies in conjunction with a careful study of Hegel's works, others saw their philosophies emerge in antagonism with proponents of Hegel. In this paper, we offer an instance of the latter case. Namely, we show that the impetus for Charles S. Peirce's early articulation and avowal of realism (the claim that some generals are real) was William Torrey Harris's claim that the formal laws of logic lacked universal validity. According to Harris, the leading representative of Hegelism in the United States, the universal validity of the laws of logic rested on a nominalistic metaphysics that a Hegelian-realism showed to be false. In response to this charge, we articulate how Peirce's attempt to prove the universal validity of the laws of logic resulted in avowing a realism that differed from both nominalism and Harris's Hegelian-realism.

David Agler

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