Charles Sanders Peirce

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

An Architecture for Inquiry : Building Computer Platforms for Discovery

by Jon Awbrey

Awbrey, S.M., and Awbrey, J.L. (May 1991), “An Architecture for Inquiry : Building Computer Platforms for Discovery”, Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Technology and Education, Toronto, Canada, pp. 874–875.

More and more we hear the complaint that the gap between research and instruction is widening and a vital sense of... more More and more we hear the complaint that the gap between research and instruction is widening and a vital sense of motivation is falling between the cracks. It is our vision that intelligent computing systems will become a partner in the reintegration of discovery and learning within the inquiry process. We will address certain issues that must be faced if computer media are to have the characteristics necessary to support this integration. The development of the computer to date has required a careful attention to the syntax and semantics of the rather limited symbol systems we have induced them to use. A capacity for communicating in multiple modalities with non-uniform communities of symbol users — for sharing in the discovery of a pluralistic universe — will demand a quantum leap in our understanding of the pragmatic dimensions of symbol use. In the future the capacity for inquiry must permeate the living architecture of the computer system. A computer program that begins to embody these ideas will be discussed.

Conceptual Barriers to Creating Integrative Universities

by Jon Awbrey

Awbrey, S.M., and Awbrey, J.L. (May 2001), “Conceptual Barriers to Creating Integrative Universities”, Organization : The Interdisciplinary Journal of Organization, Theory, and Society 8(2), Sage Publications, London, UK, pp. 269–284.

Today’s society looks to universities for solutions to broad-based issues that require cross-disciplinary expertise.... more Today’s society looks to universities for solutions to broad-based issues that require cross-disciplinary expertise. Yet, the organizational structure of our institutions remains locked in academic and administrative silos that have little genuine ability to communicate or to recognize the interdependence of knowledge. Why does the capacity to communicate between disciplines and units remain limited? How do formalizations of our experience create barriers? What kind of reflection would it take to subject our mental models of knowledge and learning to critical inquiry? This discussion highlights one of the most entrenched ‘group identity myths’ that underlie the structure of modern academic institutions, the ‘triviality of integration’ thesis.

Exploring Research Data Interactively. Theme One : A Program of Inquiry

by Jon Awbrey

Awbrey, J.L., and Awbrey, S.M. (August 1990), “Exploring Research Data Interactively. Theme One : A Program of Inquiry”, Proceedings of the Sixth Annual Conference on Applications of Artificial Intelligence and CD-ROM in Education and Training, Society for Applied Learning Technology, Washington, DC, pp. 9–15.

If computer programs were smarter, they would, like people, recognize sequences of events, form models of their... more If computer programs were smarter, they would, like people, recognize sequences of events, form models of their environment, and formulate rules based on experience.  This paper describes the development of a program designed to address the difficult computational problems involved in integrating the inductive and deductive reasoning necessary to perform such tasks.  “Theme One” is a prototype program composed of “Index”, a learning algorithm for sequential data, and “Study”, an algorithm for building logical models.  The project goal is an interactive research tool that assists students and investigators in the exploration of qualitative data using artificial intelligence.

Interpretation as Action : The Risk of Inquiry

by Jon Awbrey

Awbrey, J.L., and Awbrey, S.M. (Autumn 1995), “Interpretation as Action : The Risk of Inquiry”, Inquiry : Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines 15(1), pp. 40–52.

“We hope you will find these thoughts of ours both interesting and useful.” These are words spoken to express an... more “We hope you will find these thoughts of ours both interesting and useful.” These are words spoken to express an intention, a bearing in the mind of a person toward an object which is yet to be achieved. The readiest moment of human life involves the interplay of signs, ideas, and objects — more explicitly, the interrelation of signifying expressions, states and dispositions of the mind or person, and objects or objectives either actual or potential. Our work designing instruments to enhance the play of inquiry has attuned us to the themes of interpretation and intentionality which every inquiry seems to involve. We hear what sounds like familiar strains reaching us from the hermeneutic quarter. The purpose of this essay is to trace to their sources a few of these potentially common themes, to draw out one line of their historical development, and to gather what consequences they inspire for educational practice and continued inquiry.

Semiotic Taxonomy in the Classroom (draft copy)

by Richard Pratt

Paper presentation at the 2012 Design Principles and Practices International Conference in Los Angeles, Jan 20–22.

This lecture examines my attempts over the previous five years at using (Peircean) semiotic taxonomies in... more This lecture examines my attempts over the previous five years at using (Peircean) semiotic taxonomies in undergraduate graphic design classes to improve student outcomes. This includes the use of taxonomies to help expand visual diversity among student work, to bring better understanding and greater nuance to visual messaging, and to reinforce basic understandings of how perception functions. This examination will include examples of student work generated from past assignments and proposals for future projects. It will also cover the basics of how semiotic information is introduced to students, and how it is reinforced through a variety of assignments with varying degrees of success. Along with the semiotic theories of Charles Sanders Peirce, students are introduced to Umberto Eco’s thoughts on abduction, basic competing ideas from Ferdinand de Saussure, and a simplified version of John Dewey’s theory of aesthetics.

Functional Discourse Pragmatics: Cybersemiotics of human language

by Ole Nedergaard Thomsen

Draft only. Comments are welcome.

In the present paper we shall offer some functional pragmatic revisions to the current version of Cybersemiotics... more In the present paper we shall offer some functional pragmatic revisions to the current version of Cybersemiotics (Brier 2008 ff) in the sphere of human language. Our main focus will be, firstly, on the physiological level of the vocal production and auditive perception of speech and, secondly, on ‘total’, integrative evolutionary communication, i.e. on verbal language games with integrated, e.g. gestural, multimodal and even multimedial co-speech, the latter comprising artefactual, e.g. pictorial, representations. In fact, an understanding of the multimodality of the language game level is crucial to be able to characterize the biosemiotics of human language and its evolution: the evolution of the language game level is not the narrow evolution of the vocal part of it only, but rather of the total, integrated manifestation (also, i.a., facial expression and posture). The Cybersemiotic concept of individual vs. cultural ‘signification sphere’, i.e. the world of semiotic objects “we live by” is touched upon.

Linguistic Stratification and the tri-unity Matter—Substance—Form: A Functional Discourse Pragmatics perspective (in memory of Eli Fischer-Jørgensen (1911-2010))

by Ole Nedergaard Thomsen

Updated version 11.01.2012. Work in progress. Comments are utterly welcome!

Parallels with Peircean Semiotics, von Uexküllian cognitive-semiotic/bio-cybernetic biology (behaviorism/ethology), and Brier's (2008) Cybersemiotics.

An orig. English version 2010 of a 'functional footnote' from 1998: "Stratifikation og "treenigheden" Materie--Substans--Form. Et Funktionelt Pragmatisk perspektiv". Published in 'DFG -- Funktionelle Fodnoter: Sprogligt indhold: substans og struktur. Funktionelle Fodnoter' 1998. 56-58.

This paper will investigate linguistic stratification – the crucial conception that language and speech, rather than... more This paper will investigate linguistic stratification – the crucial conception that language and speech, rather than being monolithic, are organized on different ‘representational levels’.

Linguistic Stratification is originally a European structuralist notion, proposed (i.a.) by the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure (1916) to deal with the fact that a language and its performance in speech occur on two different hierarchical levels of representation, viz. one of arbitrary ‘form’ and one of manifestational ‘substance’ (alias ‘matter’), both on the plane of Content (meaning) and on the plane of Expression (confusingly, “form” in the American tradition, however presumably going back to the Gr. morphé, not eidos). The claim is that language is (primarily) ‘form’ (structure, system), irrespective of its material manifestation. Form and substance, of course, originate in Aristotelian philosophy, where, however, the distinction was triadic rather than dyadic – the tri-unity ‘form’, ‘substance’, and ‘matter’ – and did not pertain to language-internal distinctions in the first place but to ontology in general – and thus did not mean levels of linguistic representation, but rather levels of reality. The Danish hard core, pseudo-algebraic linguist Louis Hjelmslev (1943, 1975), confusingly, wavers between the dyadic and the triadic conceptions (strangely calling ‘matter’ purport, Dan. mening ‘meaning’), but most often, it seems, he uses the dichotomy ‘form’ vs. ‘substance’ (Dahl 1998), however, in a rather Platonic conception, where linguistic ‘form’ exists in a “third” world, in casu of ideal Language, relegating phenomenal language to a subsidiary “shadowy” world of the “real” speaker-listeners and their speech communities. That is, in former formal European structuralism (like Hjelmslevian Glossematics) the essence of language was seen as ‘form’ (viz. “pure” ‘form’) presupposed by, but not presupposing a manifesting ‘substance’ (of sensibilia and intelligibilia). In functional European structuralism (e.g., esp. Jakobson and the Prague school), in Coseriu’s Integral Linguistics (a post-structuralist functionalism), as well as in present-day Danish Functional Linguistics, including Functional Discourse Pragmatics (developed by the present author), ‘form’ is “substantial”. This means that the distinction between vocal and sign language are different (medial-modal) ‘forms’, ruling out the possibility of postulating an underlying “pure” form uniting e.g. Danish vocal and sign languages – they are simply two different (historical) functional languages (competences). Likewise, the distinction between spoken and written language is a distinction in terms of (medial-modal) “substantial” ‘forms’: spoken and written Danish, e.g., are two different historical (medial-modal) forms, not united by any common underlying “pure” (‘empty’) form – the written language is a partial “translation” of the spoken language, the degree to which being determined by the kind of writing system developed (alphabetical, in the case of Danish, to be sure, so roughly it is only the sound shape of the language that is being translated). The concept of stratification is continued in different schools and trends of non-generative (functionalist) linguistics, like i.a. Lamb’s Stratificational Linguistics (cf. Lamb 1999), Pike's Tagmemics, Halliday’s Systemic-Functional Linguistics (Halliday 1961; Halliday and Matthiessen 1999), and Henning Andersen’s comprehensive structural-functional (semiotics-based) linguistics (1974, 1984), but also in Chomskyan generative (formal) linguistics, with its distinction, within the language faculty, between the conceptual-intentional (pragmatics) and articulatory-auditory (phonetics) peripheral input-output systems (performance systems) and the central logical-form (semantics) and phonetic-form (phonology) systems (plus, maybe, a lexico-grammatical-syntactic form) (computational competence system).
This paper will argue for the triadic conception within a Functional Discourse Pragmatics theory of language and speech (i.a., Nedergaard Thomsen 2006, 2009) – (proposed as) the linguistic part of Cybersemiotics (i.a., Brier 2008). In effect, the triadic stratification of language is integrated into the triadic ontological stratification. Seeing language and speech, in their foundation, as mental phenomena of individual speaker-listeners, these semiotic phenomena of signs (Expression) and their interpretations (Content) belong to the ontological Form level. The signs (Expression) are manifested at the level of ontological Substance, as output of articulation and as input to perception (Sinsigns), and in themselves they may be part of our sound surroundings without being perceived as functioning signs (Matter, Qualisigns). The interpretations (Content) – via the signs (Expression) – are “referenced” in the immediate referential sphere (Substance), our Umwelt, but the “same” objective world may exist objectively outside the grasp (domain) of our language and speech (Matter). This picture is complicated by the fact that language and speech, i.e. ontological Form, is internally stratified: here the level of internal Form consists of systematic invariants, manifested as norm-sanctioned variants (internal Substance) and projected as stylistic-situational usage variants (internal Matter). The Content side of the language (interpretations) form a linguistic ‘mentality’, whereby we (the speaker-listeners of different languages) come to live our (linguistic) lives in different “language worlds” (language-based Umwelts, or Cultural Signification Spheres, Brier 2008) – just as we as a biological species live in our species-specific Umwelt (von Uexküll) – e.g. we don’t hear the same sounds or smell the same scents as our dogs. The degree to which the linguistic interpretations (Content) influence the sensations and interpretations in perception – i.e., the degree to which linguistic semantics “construes” our experience (Halliday and Matthiessen 1999), we may speak of linguistic (“Whorfian”) relativity. On a higher level of socio-cultural behavior, cultural relativity is operative (language mirroring culture). The degree to which thinking (due to sensations and interpretations) is uninfluenced by (a historical) language (or other communication system, like e.g. music) and culture, i.e. is universal, we may speak of a ‘mentalese’ (Language of Thought). With respect to the processual mode of being of language as speech, or “languaging”, Slobin (1987) discovered that the obligatory, grammatical categories, influence our ‘thinking’ operative for/in (while) speaking, and communicating in general.

I dedicate this paper to the memory of the great Danish phonetician, Eli Fischer-Jørgensen (1911-2010), who, besides being a brilliant scientist, was a brave freedom fighter (during WWII), and a fine artist – and, relevant to this paper, a astute critique of Hjelmslev’s concept of ‘form’ and ‘substance’.

Abduction and reasoning

by Andrés Pereyra Rabanal

Draft only

Charles Sanders Peirce's theory of abduction or pragmatism as the logic of abduction Charles Sanders Peirce's theory of abduction or pragmatism as the logic of abduction

Lupi, agnelli, etologi, sociologi. Considerazioni su un testo di etologia, ad uso dei ricercatori sociali

by Bertram Niessen

This is the first working paper for UrbEur PhD. “Lupi, agnelli, etologi, sociologi. Considerazioni su un testo di... more This is the first working paper for UrbEur PhD. “Lupi, agnelli, etologi, sociologi. Considerazioni su un testo di etologia, ad uso dei ricercatori sociali” (Wolves, lambs, ethologists, sociologists. Some considerations on an ethology books, for social researchers”), reflects on the book “Quand le loup habitera avec l’agneau” by Vinciane Despret and on some of its epistemological consequences for social research.

Keywords:
epistemology, Vinciane Despret, Charles Sanders Peirce, pragmatism, ethology, abduction

The American Roots of Evolutionary Spirituality

by Jeff Carreira

Pragmatism is the most significant genuinely American contribution to world philosophy. It was designed to be a new... more Pragmatism is the most significant genuinely American contribution to world philosophy. It was designed to be a new definition of truth not a metaphysical explanation of the universe. It was, however, built upon an implicit evolutionary metaphysics that was developed and shared by the early founders of Pragmatism. The core conceptions of this evolutionary metaphysics can be found today reflected in popular philosophies that are currently being developed by a number of contemporary thinkers often outside of the bounds of traditional academia. The ideas of these present-day luminaries when considered together might be designated by using the term Evolutionary Spirituality. In this paper I will describe the fundamental characteristics of the evolutionary metaphysics of Pragmatism, show how it can be seen reflected in different forms of Evolutionary Spirituality today, and speculate as to why this obvious connection remains largely unrecognized.

INTEGRATIVE EVOLUTIONARY COMMUNICATION: TOWARDS A CYBERSEMIOTIC FOUNDATION OF FUNCTIONAL DISCOURSE GRAMMAR AND PRAGMATICS

by Ole Nedergaard Thomsen

Co-authored with Søren Brier, Department of International Culture and Communication Studies

In this paper we shall outline a Cybersemiotic foundation for pragmatics-based linguistics, more precisely Functional... more In this paper we shall outline a Cybersemiotic foundation for pragmatics-based linguistics, more precisely Functional Discourse Grammar and Pragmatics. Language is viewed as communication, and communication is viewed as ‘total communication’, that is, integrative evolutionary communication, being an integration of three stages: 1. biological reflexive languaging (social coordination), 2. instinctual-motivational-emotional sign games (ethology), and 3. premeditated, intentional language games (human unitary thinking-speaking-gesturing). Language games subsume the other stages, and thus human evolutionary communication is primarily a symbolic praxis. It is intertwined with the praxis of living, i.e. with different life forms. Together they form a coherent socio-behavioral “package”.

Convolute lamination in modern sands of the estuary of the Oosterschelde, the Netherlands, formed as the result of entrapped air

by Poppe de Boer

Sedimentology Volume 26, Issue 2, pages 283–294, April 1979

Soft-sediment deformation structures similar to convolute lamination were found at the sandy rim of an intertidal... more Soft-sediment deformation structures similar to convolute lamination were found at the sandy rim of an intertidal shoal in the Oosterschelde estuary, the Netherlands. Abundant air filled cavities within upward penetrated domes suggest that reversed density stratification resulting from trapped air in some sand layers plays a role in the deformational process.

Field observations show that air-filled cavities are formed within fine-grained sand; at rising tide the ground water level does not rise quickly enough to replace the interstitial air before flood water covers the sediment surface. Thus, air is trapped in the sand between the ground water level and the sediment-water interface. Because of the weight of the overlying water column and the slow downward movement of water due to capillary action, the entrapped air is compressed and eventually may attain a pressure which enables it to lift the overlying sediment. At this time bubbles are formed, often to a depth of 20 cm. Observation and experiments show that, in layers of fine sand, bubbles develop preferentially in better sorted and coarser zones. This is probably because capillary forces are greater in finer-grained and less sorted sand. Thus, water will penetrate by preference into the latter, pressing the interstitial air into the better sorted and coarser sand. The high content of air cavities in certain layers then provides the density instability responsible for the deformational process leading to the formation of convolute lamination. In the intertidal zone this appears to be a slow process that covers a number of ebb and flood cycles.

Convolute lamination has been described from a number of ancient sandstones that are thought to have been deposited in shallow water, near-shore environments. In many of these cases sand size compares with that found in the Oosterschelde. Air entrapment might have played a role in the formation of certain of these occurrences of convolute lamination.

Key words: convolute bedding, convolute lamination, cavernous sand, tidal, intertidal, beach, porosity, sand, air bubbles, soft sediment deformation, intertidal shoals

Can science tell us what's objectively true?

by Brian Earp

Earp, B. D. (2011). Can science tell us what’s objectively true? The New Collection, Vol. 6., No. 1, 1-9. Featured article in the graduate journal of New College, Oxford.

Can science tell us what’s objectively true? Or is it merely a clever way to cure doubt – to give us something to... more Can science tell us what’s objectively true? Or is it merely a clever way to cure doubt – to give us something to believe in, whether it’s true or not? In this essay, I look at the pragmatist account of science expounded by Charles Sanders Peirce in his 1877 essay, ‘The Fixation of Belief’. Against Peirce, I argue that science does not come naturally to our species, nor does the doubting open-mindedness upon which its practice relies. To the extent that science is successful in ‘curing’ doubt, it’s because it tracks the real state of the world; and I argue that Peirce himself – his pragmatist narrative notwithstanding – is implicitly committed to this view as well.