Dear Edwina, Stan, lists - But there is triadicity all over the place - all regularity, vague or strong, in the universe falls under Peirce's category of Thirdness. But not all thirdnesses are signs - even if they form a condition of possibility for signs to emerge …
Best F John, I don't think that these opposing views - whether semiosic actions take place within the physico-chemical realm or only begin in the biological realm - can be definitively resolved. I, for one, like Stan, firmly believe that semiosis operates within the physico-chemical realm; that is, that even an atom emerges within a triadic relation - even if such atom has nil capacity for adaptation within that semiosis - as in the biological realm. As for 'all of science is conducted in signs'...I think this is vague. Science is a human activity. Or, is this statement meant to refer to matter...i.e., all that is material is conducted in signs'. I agree with Frederik that studying semiosic functions within the physico-chemical realm probably does little to provide new knowledge about that realm, but, I agree with Stan that it could examine the emergence of life from that realm. And I'm afraid that my intellectual dimness means that I can't see much difference between your pansemiosis and physiosemiosis...in that both acknowledge that semiosis operates within the physico-chemical realm. After all, physiosemiosis, in order to explore 'where and how', first has to acknowledge that semiosis actually exists in that realm. Edwina
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