An interesting quote from Peirce I came upon which relates to his notion of truth.
"Every phoenix, in rising from its ashes sings 'Yankee Doodle,'" will be, we may be confident, not in conflict with any experience. If so, it is perfectly true."
That is, Peirce's notion of truth isn't just what everyone eventually agrees upon in a determinate, totalizing sense. That is, the notion that there is one 'ultimate' statement about matters. Rather any assertion not in conflict with any experience is true. In a sense, as I understand it, this leads one towards a more negative sense of truth. This allows, I believe, Peirce to be reconciled to such radical senses of perspectivism as we find in say Nietzsche.
Truth, for Peirce, is the ultimate interpretation of every sign. That would, I believe, include strong perspectivism. Indeed, his notion of truth is what an investigator would come to "if investigation were carried sufficiently far in that particular direction." (EP 2:458)
My favorite quote by Peirce on truth is found in a letter he wrote to Cantor back in 1900.
By a true proposition (if there be any such thing) I mean a proposition which at some time, past or future, emerges into thought, and has the following three characters:
1st, no direct effort of yours, mine, or anybody's, can reverse it permanently, or even permanently prevent its asserting itself;
2nd, no reasoning or discussion can permanently prevent its asserting itself;
3rd, any prediction based on the proposition, as to what ought to present itself in experience under certain conditions, will be fulfilled when those conditions are satisfied.
By a reality, I mean anything represented in a true proposition.
By a positive reality or truth, I mean one to which all three of the above criteria can be applied, - of course imperfectly, since we can never carry them out to the end.
By an ideal reality or truth, I mean one to which the first two criteria can be applied imperfectly, but the third not at all, since the proposition does not imply that any particular state of things will ever appear in experience. Such is a truth of pure mathematics.
By an ultimate reality or truth, I mean one to which the first criterion can be in some measure applied, but which can never be overthrown or rendered clearer by any reasoning, and upon which alone no predictions can be based. Thus, if you are kicked by a horse, the fact of the pain is beyond all discussion and far less can it be shaken or established by any experimentation.
Note that those interested in Peirce's logic might find interesting this paper of Peirce's on existential graphs with interspersed comment by John Sowa.
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