Charles was born into a leading American household. His father was perhaps the leading scientist in America and he invited academics, politicians, poets, scientists, and mathematicians into his home. A child prodigy, Charles thrived in the intellectual atmosphere. Benjamin Peirce found it difficult to find students who were bright enough to benefit from his teaching, but in his own children he found the talent that seemed to be lacking elsewhere. He used his own educational ideas in teaching Charles and his other children, and in many ways this did set them up to undertake research. However, realising that the greatest thinkers enjoyed an independence of thought, he refused to discipline his children in case he destroyed this originality. In many ways this upbringing produced the genius that Charles displayed but it also gave Charles problems of fitting in, which meant that his life was a difficult one. By the age of twelve Charles was reading standard university level texts on logic, and in the following year he began reading Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason. He remained greatly influenced by Kant throughout his life.