Gary R., List: I agree that Pietarinen's suggestion of an "overlapping triadic relation" whose correlates are the utterer, the sign, and the interpreter is quite interesting. However, I am not yet convinced that it is an accurate conceptualization, especially since communication is not the only manifestation of semiosis. According to Peirce, the utterer and interpreter are *dispensable*; the object is the essential ingredient of the utterer, and the interpretant is the essential ingredient of the interpreter (EP 2:403-10, 1907). There are signs that have no utterer--"symptoms of disease, signs of weather, etc." (EP 2:496, 1909 Feb 26)--and signs that have no *actual *interpreter, i.e., no *dynamical *interpretant.
Even so, Peirce does describe a sign as "a medium of communication" and "a determination of a quasi-mind" (EP 2:390-2, 1906), where what is being communicated is "a Form" and "it is necessary that there should be two, if not three, *quasi-minds*" involved (EP 2:544n22, 1906). Specifically, "signs require at least two Quasi-minds; a *Quasi-utterer* and a *Quasi-interpreter*; and although these two are at one (*i.e.*, are one mind) in the sign itself, they must nevertheless be distinct. In the Sign they are, so to say, *welded*" (CP 4.551, 1906). Moreover, "The quasi-mind is itself a sign, a determinable sign" (SS 195,1906 Mar 9); and "the *Communicational Interpretant* ... is a determination of that mind into which the minds of utterer and interpreter have to be fused in order that any communication should take place. This mind may be called the *commens*" (SS 196-7, EP 2:478, 1906 Mar 9). Accordingly, I suggest that it is better to avoid referring to utterer-sign-interpreter as an "overlapping triadic relation" and instead identify utterer, commens, and interpreter as the three quasi-minds involved in any event of semiosis--when a dynamical object, the essential ingredient of the utterer, determines a sign-token, the essential ingredient of the commens, to determine a dynamical interpretant, the essential ingredient of the interpreter. In this account, can "AI" systems participate in semiosis by serving as such quasi-minds? If so, is that sufficient to ascribe genuine intelligence to them? As someone who views the entire universe as one immense sign, such that discrete things and their dyadic reactions--including digital processing operations--are degenerate outcomes of continuous and triadic semiosis, my current answers are yes to the first question and no to the second. Frankly, I dispute the assertion that "AI" systems are "able to respond, criticize, reformulate, compare alternatives, and extend an inquiry"; I still maintain that they merely *simulate *these behaviors. They do not possess *agency*, the ability to *choose *whether and how to perform such tasks; they only do exactly what they are told by humans, in exactly the way that they have been programmed to do them by humans, just like other computer programs. They produce an admittedly very sophisticated *illusion *of collaboration by mimicking human language, including the use of first person, but they are really just additional tools facilitating inquiry by humans. Their output consists of degenerate dyadic reactions, not genuine triadic interpretants. Regards, Jon Alan Schmidt - Olathe, Kansas, USA Structural Engineer, Synechist Philosopher, Lutheran Christian www.LinkedIn.com/in/JonAlanSchmidt / twitter.com/JonAlanSchmidt On Wed, Jul 1, 2026 at 11:02 PM Gary Richmond <[email protected]> wrote: > Jon, List, > > Pietarinen's paper has provoked a thought that I had not previously fully > appreciated and which seems relevant in response to your critique of my > thesis that AI represents a form of intelligence. What especially struck > me is not just Pietarinen's regarding nonhuman sign users as > potentially viable participants in inquiry, but his suggestion that *Peirce's > account of communication may itself involve two overlapping triadic > relations*. One, the *semiotic triad, Object - Sign - Interpretant*, > which describes semiosis as such: the object determining the sign, > determining an interpretant which may itself become a new sign in the > continuing growth of inquiry. > > Pietarinen also identifies a second triad, what might be calls the > *communicative > triad, **Utterer - Sign - Interpreter*. The self-same sign that mediates > between object and interpretant also mediates between participants in > inquiry. Communication, in this view, is not something added onto semiosis, > rather, *semiosis is intrinsically communicative*. Peirce's definition > that a sign is "something which stands to somebody for something" perhaps > deserves to be taken quite literally in human communication, perhaps > especially that communication involved in inquiry. > > If this is correct then inquiry begins to look quite different. It is not > just a series of individual, personal acts of reasoning; and neither is it > simply transmission of information between inquirers. Rather, it is > possible to see *inquiry as a developing network of overlapping sign > relations in which interpretants generated in one communicative exchange > can become signs in another*. Thus, the *community of inquiry *is > nourished by the continuing semiosic processes through which meanings are > created, criticized, revised, and further developed. > > In my view this also helps clarify the place of AI within inquiry. In an > earlier post I remarked that, as I see it, *AI can participate in > semiosis without possessing mind*. Rather, Pietarinen's analysis suggests > that *AI systems can function as a participant within the communicative > dimension of semiosis.* From my own experience, I believe that one can > say that the kind of continuity that develops in an extended human-AI > interaction isn't at all that involving an artificial personality, but *merely > the continuation of the inquiry*. > Jon, you raise what seems to me to be an important qualification. You ask > whether present or future AI systems might actually possess ends of their > own, or, do they merely function as sophisticated means -- tools -- by > which we humans pursue our ends. At present I strongly agree with you that > AI does not exhibit autonomous purposiveness in the sense Peirce associates > with organisms, individual humans, and communities. However, my proposal > does not require such autonomous purposiveness. > > In my view, participation in semiosis needn't imply independence of > purpose. For example, scholarly books and academic papers certainly preserve > and transmit signs without possessing ends of their own. AI differs from > them, however, in *actually** being able to respond, criticize, > reformulate, compare alternatives, and extend an inquiry *(btw, my sense > is that one can't really see this capacity without at least experimenting > with AI in an inquiry of her own). So for me the question is not whether > AI is or can become an autonomous inquirer, but *if responsive AI sign > systems can contribute genuine interpretants to inquiries* whose ultimate > aims, however, remain those of human individuals and communities. > > Whether this ultimately proves to be a plausible way of understanding > contemporary AI remains an open question. Still, it strikes me as a > distinctly Peircean question. If communication is recognized as intrinsic > to semiosis rather than external to it, then the possibility that > responsive AI sign systems can participate in the communal growth of > inquiry no longer seems conceptually outlandish. At the very least, I > believe that it is a philosophical question well worth investigating. > > I would certainly be eager to read the thoughts of especially young > interested people as this question regarding AI seems to me now to be a > kind of philosophical "Wild West" (as one young educator whom I'll discuss > in a future post, put it). > > Best, > > Gary R. >
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