In a career leading up to the 1942 publication of _World Hypotheses_, Stephen C. Pepper (1891-1972), was influenced particularly by [Charles Sanders Pierce](https://iep.utm.edu/peirce-charles-sanders/) (1839-1941) and [Ralph Barton Perry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Barton_Perry) (1876-1957) who was critical of pragmatism.
In 1987, [Ronald K. Hoeflin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_K._Hoeflin) summarized a chronological survey of the thoughts of Stephen C. Pepper along the developing his ideas on metaphor. > But whereas Peirce asserted that there have been "fifty or [a] hundred systems of philosophy that have been advanced at different times of the world's history," [1] the view Pepper adopted eventually was that there have been "only seven or eight" [2] basic world hypotheses, of which only four -- formism, mechanism, contextualism, and organicism -- are "relatively adequate."[3] [p. 10] > * [1] Charles Sanders Peirce, "The Architecture of Theories," in _Charles S. Peirce: Selected Writings (Values in a Universe of Change)_, ed. Philip P. Wiener (New York: Doubleday & Co., 1958; reprint ed., New York: Dover Publications, 1966), p. 143. > * [2] Pepper, World Hypotheses, p. 328. > * [3] Ibid., pp. 98-99. > These four relatively adequate world hypotheses appear to correspond to the four metaphysical systems described in Ralph Barton Perry's book, _Present Philosophical Tendencies_, which was subtitled _A Critical Survey of Naturalism, Idealism, Pragmatism, and Realism, Together with a Synopsis of the Philosophy of William James_. [p. 10] > Andrew Reck also noticed these correlations and mentions them in an essay on Pepper's philosophy in his book _The New American Philosophers_: "Pepper's four principal world hypotheses match those which Ralph Barton Perry believed to be the present philosophical tendencies: organicism is idealism, mechanism is naturalism, contextualism is pragmatism, and formism is realism". [1] [pp. 10-11] > * [1} Andrew J. Reck, _The New American Philosophers: An Exploration of Thought Since World War II_ (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1968), p. 51. > Pepper studied under Perry at Harvard, which no doubt accounts in part for the similarity of their metaphysical outlooks. > * Source: Hoeflin, Ronald K. 1987. “The Root-Metaphor Theory: A Critical Appraisal of Stephen C. Pepper’s Theory of Metaphysics Through an Analysis of Its Interpretation of the Concepts of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness.” Doctoral dissertation, New York, NY: New School for Social Research. https://www.proquest.com/docview/303589498.