Charles S. Peirce

Pragmatisme et idées-forces. Alfred Fouillée fut-il une source du pragmatisme américain?

by J.M.C. Chevalier

Les émotions ont-elles une place en logique? Un examen de la réponse peircienne

by J.M.C. Chevalier

La réception de Charles S. Peirce en France (1870-1914)

by J.M.C. Chevalier

Despite his efforts, the American philosopher Charles S. Peirce found hardly any interlocutors in France. He was... more Despite his efforts, the American philosopher Charles S. Peirce found hardly any interlocutors in France. He was considered mostly as a mathematician and logician, a physicist and a reliable psychologist, but his philosophical work was systematically distorted in consequence of “Franco-French” disputes. We emphasize here the readings of André Lalande and Louis Couturat who made significant contributions towards the recognition in France of the originality of the founding father of Pragmaticism.

Peirces Rhetorical Turn. Conceptualizing education as semiosis

by torill strand

Keywords:
Peirce;semeiosis;semiotics;phenomenology;pragmatism;learning;philosophy of education
more Keywords:
Peirce;semeiosis;semiotics;phenomenology;pragmatism;learning;philosophy of education

Abstract
The later works of Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1913) offer an extended metaphor of mind and a rich conception of the dynamics of knowledge and learning. After a ‘rhetorical turn’ Peirce develops his early ‘semiotics’ into a more general theory of sign and sign use, while integrating his pragmatism, phenomenology, and semiotics. Therefore, in this article I bring Peirce's notion of semiosis—the sign's action—to the forefront. In doing so, I hope to disclose how Peirce's rhetorical turn not only opens up towards a richer conception of the dynamics of knowledge and learning, but also invites a shift of perspective from the psychological processes of learning to the semeiotic processes that characterizes the very dynamics of knowledge production.

A Case of Convergence Between Mathematical Structuralism and Scientific Realism (in Spanish)

by Paniel Reyes Cardenas

Published in: Revista Tales Vol I, n. 4 (2011) pp. 219-228, ISSN: 2172-2587

In this essay I aim to explain some aspects of the scientific inquiry and scientific realism that puzzle philosopher’s... more In this essay I aim to explain some aspects of the scientific inquiry and scientific realism that puzzle philosopher’s scruples about conceptual economy in the admission of universals.
Thus, drawing a line of continuity between mathematical structuralism and realism through a pragmatist strategy the universals should appear as a natural and acceptable practical bearing of scientific inquiry. Nonetheless, a better, deep and nuanced definition of universals as representations of generality, especially for the mathematical expressed ones, turns out necessary. The last section is a proposal with means to grasp that new definition inspired in the discussion for universals carried out by David M. Armstrong.

Keywords: Mathematical Structuralism, scientific Realism, pragmatism, Ante Rem Universals, Armstrong, Peirce.

Mathematical Structuralism, Continuity and Peirce's Diagrammatic Reasoning

by Paniel Reyes Cardenas

Forthcoming in: Proceedings of the International Conference: Mathematics, Linguistics and Aspects of Interaction. International Euler Institute of Mathematics: St. Petersburg. (early draft, please don´t quote)

Abstract:
Contemporary discussions around the foundations of mathematics are traditionally stepping into two... more Abstract:
Contemporary discussions around the foundations of mathematics are traditionally stepping into two opposite standstowards the reality of mathematical objects or structures: some of them are plainly nominalistic, denying the existence of theobjects of mathematical inquiries; the opposite stand is the extreme Platonism that defends an account of a realm of mathemat-ical entities where they exist. Both solutions find serious problems in accounting for the applicability and continuity betweenformal theoretical inquiry and the applicability of mathematics in our best scientific theories. In this scenario, Mathematicalstructuralism offers a halfway through overcoming the metaphysical scruples of the nominalist and the extreme realism of thePlatonist. At the same time enables us a criterion to find a continuum between theory and applicability through an accountof diagrammatic reasoning into the mathematical inquiries. My aim is to show how Peirce’s plea for diagrammatic reasoningfulfils the problem of our access to these structures by an account of mathematical true continua.
Keywords
: Applicability of Mathematics, Mathematical Structuralism, Peirce’s diagrammatic reasonin

A Necessary Condition for Proof of Abiotic Semiosis

by Marc Champagne

To appear in Semiotica.

This short essay seeks to identify and prevent a pitfall that attends less careful inquiries into “physiosemiosis.” It... more This short essay seeks to identify and prevent a pitfall that attends less careful inquiries into “physiosemiosis.” It is emphasized that, in order to truly establish the presence of sign-action in the non-living world, all the components of a triadic sign — including the interpretant — would have to be abiotic (that is, not dependent on a living organism). Failure to heed this necessary condition can lead one to hastily confuse a natural sign (like smoke coming from fire) for an instance of abiotic semiosis. A more rigorous and reserved approach to the topic is called for.

Peirce-Kant

by Vitaly Kiryushchenko

Book Review: "Peirce and the Threat of Nominalism" by Paul Forster. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011

by Vitaly Kiryushchenko

In the Net of Abductions (On Juliette Peirce's Identity)

by Vitaly Kiryushchenko

This paper is an English translation of chapter 9 of the first full-length biography of Ch. S. Peirce in Russian, “Charles Sanders Peirce: An Introduction to the Intellectual History of America” (“Чарльз Сандерс Пирс: введение в интеллектуальную историю Америки”), published in Moscow in March 2009 by Territorija buduschego Publishing House. Published at http://www.helsinki.fi/science/commens/papers.html with kind permission of the editors of Territorija buduschego

In spite of all the industrious efforts Peirce scholars have made so far, Peirce's biography still retains a number of... more In spite of all the industrious efforts Peirce scholars have made so far, Peirce's biography still retains a number of gaps, among which the problem of identity of Peirce's second wife, Juliette Froissy, stands out most significantly. It is all the more important that, as some scholars suggest, the discovery of
any reliable facts about Juliette could provide an explanation to some of the decisions Peirce had made, which irrevocably changed the course of his life, as well as his theory. By courtesy of Professor Dr. Nathan Houser and the Peirce Edition Project, the writer of the present paper was granted access to the archive materials containing the Max H. Fisch – Maurice Auger correspondence and Victor Lenzen's notes on Juliette. The paper aims at arranging the dispersed data obtained from these and other sources into a set of several distinct versions, which curiously refer to each other and collectively impose a certain order on some major abductions concerning Juliette's identity.

Peirce's semiotics and Russian formalism: The story of Oedipus Rex

by Vitaly Kiryushchenko

It is widely held nowadays that Saussurean semiology and the Peircean theory of signs are two major semiotic schools... more It is widely held nowadays that Saussurean semiology and the Peircean theory of signs are two major semiotic schools that, although they have certain theoretical and historical background in common, are incommensurable.

However, it appears that numerous — and evidently strong — points of incongruence between Saussurean (and post-Saussurean) semiology and Peirce's semiotics do not prevent the possibility of some important theoretical intuitions common to both traditions. In particular, this claim finds support in light of Russian formalism — essentially a Saussurean-type semiotic school that gained wide acclaim in mid-twentieth century Europe alongside French structuralism. Without challenging the truth of the obvious differences between the two schools, this paper undertakes to reinterpret some of the late formalist concepts on the problem of continuity in terms of Peirce's semiotics. The brief account this paper presents has a double objective: (1) to give a particular example of how some basic formalist analytical categories may be placed in the wider context of Peirce's semiotics, thus making the purely structural aspect of meaning a particular case of Peirce's theory of signs, and (2) to show the possibility of building a case in which Peirce's semiotic ideas might actually be applied as efficient tools in the examination of different traditional discourses. This objective is accomplished by way of a sample analysis of Vladimir Propp's “Oedipus in Light of Folklore” in terms of Peirce's “On a New List of Categories.”

Keywords:: continuity; history; formalism; semiotics; narrative function; interpretant

Scripture and graphs

by Silvia Redente

I try to write about my first thesis about Peirce and graphs.

On Diagrams for Peirces 10, 28, and 66 Classes of Signs

by Priscila Farias

Towards a cyber-semiotic foundation of a scientifically adequate Functional Discourse Grammar

by Ole Nedergaard Thomsen

Abstract proposal for a paper within our project on Cybersemiotics and Functional Linguistics (esp., Functional Discourse Grammar and Distributed Language Theory).
Co-authored with Søren Brier, Dec. 2011.
Comments welcome

In this paper we shall try to give a foundation for a scientifically adequate Functional Discourse Grammar. By the... more In this paper we shall try to give a foundation for a scientifically adequate Functional Discourse Grammar. By the term ’scientific adequacy’ Functional Grammar’s original types of adequacy, inherited by Functional Discourse Grammar, have been generalized: typological, psychological, and pragmatic, for we believe that a lot more has to be involved in scientific model building. Firstly, scientific adequacy will involve observational and descriptive adequacy, in addition to Functional Discourse Grammar’s adequacies. The former, observational adequacy, will deal with the problem of observing natural language and language use (e.g., ’the observer’s paradox’ of how to obtain samples of natural, vernacular speech, not distorted by observation), but in the first place we have to determine what counts as a linguistic observation (what is observed?). Then, how many and what kinds of observations do we need, for them to be representative of the whole population? Descriptive adequacy will have to define types of scientific model building – e.g., will a symbolic-diagrammatic description be adequate (e.g., Functional Discourse Grammar’s formulae and flow diagrams)? or should we use a connectionist, neural network model? – clearly the answers depend on (the type or aspect of) the observandum we are interested in, and on which aspects of it we abstract away, or on which level of granularity is needed (e.g., minute real-time factors in some topics of psycholinguistics).

With respect to explanatory (typological, psychological, and pragmatic) adequacy, we propose that Functional Discourse Grammar’s model of verbal language must be given a cyber-semiotic foundation (Brier 2008), and by this we mean, on the one hand, a cognitive (’second-order cybernetics’) and, on the other, a semiotic foundation. Cyber-semiotics implies that linguistic communication, the Natural Language User, and language (observandum) be investigated (trans- and inter-disciplinarily) in four irreducible dimensions (the ‘cybersemiotic star model’), viz., 1. as part of the physical world (perceptibe signs), 2. as part of the biological world (neurological-physiological embodiment), 3. as part of the psychological world (cognitive and phenomenological substrate), and 4. as part of the social world (socio-cultural situatedness). The four explanatory dimensions are not disparate, but complementary and united by a conception of ’absolute naturalism’, that is, that they all are integrated aspects of the natural world.

Cyber-semiotics is an evolutionary theory. Thus, we focus on language and linguistic communication as evolutionary phenomena. This may be self-evident but implies that a model of (a) language and of the Natural Language User (linguistic cyborg) should always ultimately be seen in this perspective, which again means that the model views (verbal) language as an integrated part of ’total integrated evolutionary multimodal communication’, involving, i.a., co-produced gesture.
The evolutionary perspective has the ramification that a Functional Discourse Grammar should be seen (at least) in the temporal perspective of: 1. the evolution of (human) language in the species, 2. the history of the speech tradition of a given speech community, and 3. the development of the language(s) of the individual Natural Language User (i.a. first-language acquisition, second-language acquisition, language loss, language impairment), as well as 4. the on-line incremental development of a given communication.


Keywords: Cybersemiotics, Functional Discourse Grammar, Functional Grammar, Natural Language User, linguistic cyborg, scientific adequacy: observational adequacy, descriptive adequacy, explanatory adequacy: psychological adequacy, pragmatic adequacy, typological adequacy, transdisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity, the cybersemiotic star model: physical dimension, biological dimension, psychological dimension, sociological dimension; total integrated evolutionary multimodal communication

Philosophy and the Second Person: Peirce, Humboldt, Benveniste, and Personal Pronouns as Universals of Communication

by Tullio Viola

Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 47/4 (Fall 2011):389-420

In this paper I begin by considering Peirce's early fragments on personal pronouns as metaphysical categories, and I... more In this paper I begin by considering Peirce's early fragments on personal pronouns as metaphysical categories, and I then use some consonances with the work of Wilhelm von Humboldt to construe Peirce's œuvre as part of a tradition of studies which, halfway between philosophy and linguistics, reflects on personal pronouns as universals of human communication. Upshots of this move are, first, a new point as to the relation between Aristotle and Peirce, and the latter's quest for the universal elements of semiotic phenomena; and second, an assessment of the overall importance of the “second-person standpoint” in Peirce's thought.

Peirce’s ten classes of signs: modeling biosemiotic processes and systems

by Joao Queiroz

(in prep.)

Few semioticians have approached Peirce’s extended typologies of signs (10 and 66 classes of signs), developed from... more Few semioticians have approached Peirce’s extended typologies of signs (10 and 66 classes of signs), developed from 1903, which still seems obscure, structurally intrincate and hard to apply to empirical phenomena. To make things worse, it remains the tendency to think that the extended typologies are extravagant and unproductive conceptual-tools. My argument here suggests something different. Such classifications should be considered as an important advancement with respect to the task of empirically modeling the morphological variety of signs, and constitute one of the most important topics of Peirce’s mature semiotic. My main assumption is very simple: the morphological space of semiotic events and processes into which biosemiotic systems are embedded always include intermediary and mixed classes of signs (e.g., proto-symbols). If correct, any Peircean based tentative of classifying biosemiotic processes should consider the extended typologies of signs, according to which several aspects of sign-object-interpretant (S-O-I) relation are described.

Iconicity in phonological change

by Bruce Mannheim

A Semiotic of Andean Dreams: Dreaming: Anthropological and Psychological Interpretations

by Bruce Mannheim

Iconicità/Iconicity

by Bruce Mannheim

In Alessandro Duranti (ed.), Culture e Discorso. Un lessico per le scienze sociali, Roma: Meltemi., 2002

Spatio-Temporal Facticity and the Dissymmetry of Nature: A Peircean-Based Defense of Some Essential Distinctions of Nature

by Philip Rose

Environmental Philosophy, Vol. VIII, Issue II, Fall, 2011(pp. 115-140)

This is an attempt to work the ground in the philosophy of nature by trying to articulate in a clear and rigorous... more This is an attempt to work the ground in the philosophy of nature by trying to articulate in a clear and rigorous philosophical sense what Nature is. This will involve pressing the question of nature to the point of essential distinctions in the hope of disclosing conditions that mark Nature as a distinct conception and general mode of being. Drawing and building upon Peirce’s account of “facts,” time and space,  and the “dissymmetry” of nature, I will suggest some ways in which the essential distinctness of Nature can be framed. I will end by offering a parting glance at some of the implications that might follow from the distinctions constructed.