BODY { font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px; } Jon, list - this is my second reply to this post. After thinking a bit about it - I'd say that I do agree with your point:
Jon wrote: "I would suggest that an Immediate Interpretant is never an actual interpretant that a Sign produces, but rather a range of possible interpretants that a Sign may produce. In other words, the Immediate Interpretant is the Sign's capacity to produce an actual interpretant--i.e., a Dynamic Interpretant. " As a 'range of possible interpretants' - these are dependent on the sign/representamen, which is in turn determined by the Dynamic/Immediate Objects. So therefore, the Affects of these two, the DO and the IO, and their informational content, will move on within the Representamen/sign and thus, be part of and both determine and constrain the nature of the Immediate Interpretant. So- therefore - I see - and accept, your analysis. Edwina -- This message is virus free, protected by Primus - Canada's largest alternative telecommunications provider. http://www.primus.ca On Sat 01/04/17 1:46 PM , Jon Alan Schmidt jonalanschm...@gmail.com sent: Edwina, List: I really appreciate this discussion, which has been very enlightening. This time I am the one with a couple of quibbles, which I hope will prove to be minor. ET: And yes, I DO fully agree with your comment that the sign/representamen must have the capacity to produce an Immediate Interpretant - even if it does not do so, at this moment in time. I would suggest that an Immediate Interpretant is never an actual interpretant that a Sign produces, but rather a range of possible interpretants that a Sign may produce. In other words, the Immediate Interpretant is the Sign's capacity to produce an actual interpretant--i.e., a Dynamic Interpretant. Furthermore, the Immediate Object and Immediate Interpretant are internal to the Sign--i.e., the Sign itself is a triad consisting of the Representamen, Immediate Object, and Immediate Interpretant. I suspect that this is precisely why Peirce's late 66-Sign classification did not include the S-Oi or S-Ii relations as distinct trichotomies. ET: The Form or Dynamic Object is 'independent of the Sign' - but only in its nature as an Object. As soon as it interacts with the Sign-vehicle, then, it becomes a Dynamic Object and as such - it is in a relationship with the sign. Before that - it is simply an external Object. I would suggest that the Dynamic Object determines the Sign, rather than merely interacting with it. In other words, the Dynamic Object is independent of the Sign in a certain sense, but the Sign is not independent of the Dynamic Object in the same way; and similarly, the Sign is independent of the Dynamic Interpretant in a certain sense (as discussed above), but the Dynamic Interpretant is not independent of the Sign in the same way. I suspect that this is precisely why Peirce's late 66-sign classification did include the S-Od and S-Id relations as distinct trichotomies. ET: But then, since I also subscribe to a view that nothing at all exists independently 'per se' and outside of networked semiosic connections, then, if one follows this view through....it would conclude that there is no such thing as a separate Object. All 'things' are in interaction with something else ... Right, "separate" was too strong a word on my part; I agree that every "thing" has real relations with other "things." The Dynamic Object has a peculiar kind of relation with the Sign, which has a peculiar kind of relation with the Dynamic Interpretant. However, I would suggest that these are still relations that the Sign has with two external "things," not relations that are somehow internal to the Sign itself--i.e., the Sign (R-Oi-Ii), Dynamic Object, and Dynamic Interpretant are the three correlates of a single triadic relation, rather than the three components of a single triad. I guess I should have made the thread title "Sign as Triad AND Correlate of Triadic Relation," because that is the view on which I seem to be settling now. Again, what do you think? Thanks, Jon On Sat, Apr 1, 2017 at 7:22 AM, Edwina Taborsky wrote: Jon, list - yes, there's a lot of agreement in our views. So, first, the Sign must have a Dynamic Object- at some time in its experience. For example, that could be some chemical trigger that does not affect the body for years, that is dormant internally as an Immediate Object for years before moving into the Interpretant phase. And yes, I DO fully agree with your comment that the sign/representamen must have the capacity to produce an Immediate Interpretant - even if it does not do so, at this moment in time. And I would agree that the internal triad is thus basic - and the external parts could be called correlates - and are not necessarily found at the same time. Again, I refer to that chemical affecting the body which might take years to have a real effect. The Form or Dynamic Object is 'independent of the Sign' - but only in its nature as an Object. As soon as it interacts with the Sign-vehicle, then, it becomes a Dynamic Object and as such - it is in a relationship with the sign. Before that - it is simply an external Object. That is, that chemical that affects the human or the tree...is only a Dynamic Object when it actually interacts with that human or that tree. But then, since I also subscribe to a view that nothing at all exists independently 'per se' and outside of networked semiosic connections, then, if one follows this view through....it would conclude that there is no such thing as a separate Object. All 'things' are in interaction with something else - even if it's merely one grain of sand in interaction with the water flowing over it. That chemical might not be a Dynamic Object to the human body but it is such with something else - let's say with the water. Edwina -- This message is virus free, protected by Primus - Canada's largest alternative telecommunications provider. http://www.primus.ca [2] On Fri 31/03/17 11:46 PM , Jon Alan Schmidt jonalanschm...@gmail.com [3] sent: Edwina, List: No problem, it was a long shot but worth a try. In fact, your points about the two Objects are well-taken; and that is the part of my hypothesis that feels the most speculative, since what I quoted from Peirce and Short does not say anything about them. After all, the Dynamic Object determines the Sign/Representamen; so if there is no Dynamic Object, how can there be a Sign at all? So I think that we are actually on the same page there. We also apparently agree that a Sign can have an Immediate Interpretant without also having a Dynamic Interpretant. You went on to suggest that it might be possible for a Sign to have no Interpretant at all; but if the Immediate Interpretant is defined as a range of possibilities (as we previously agreed), then that would be a Sign that is incapable of determining an Interpretant--and again, if that is the case, how can it be a Sign at all? That just leaves the fundamental issue of the thread title still unresolved, and I am not quite ready to give up yet. We now agree that the Sign is a triad in the sense that the Immediate Object and Immediate Interpretant are internal to it. What remains is whether the Dynamic Object and the Dynamic Interpretant are also parts of the Sign as a single triad, or distinct correlates of a triadic relation. It seems to me that if there can be a Sign without a Dynamic Interpretant, then the latter cannot be an essential part of the former; they must be distinct in some way. Furthermore, Peirce carefully chose the adjective "dynamic" (sometimes "dynamical" or "dynamoid") because of the indexical and reactive nature of the Object and Interpretant that he explicitly characterized as external to the Sign. CSP: It is usual and proper to distinguish two Objects of a Sign, the Mediate without, and the Immediate within the Sign. Its Interpretant is all that the Sign conveys: acquaintance with its Object must be gained by collateral experience. The Mediate Object is the Object outside of the Sign; I call it the Dynamoid Object. (EP 2:480; 1908) CSP: We must distinguish between the Immediate Object,--i.e., the Object as represented in the Sign,--and ... the Dynamical Object, which, from the nature of things, the Sign cannot express, which it can only indicate and leave the interpreter to find out by collateral experience. (EP 2:498; 1909) CSP: The Dynamical Interpretant is whatever interpretation any mind actually makes of a sign. This Interpretant derives its character from the Dyadic category, the category of Action ... the meaning of any sign for anybody consists in the way he reacts to the sign. (EP 2:499; 1909) Now, Peirce is evidently talking mainly about Sign-action involving human minds here, rather than the physico-chemical and biological Sign-action that is of primary interest to you. So the question becomes how to transfer the concepts from one context to the other. I think that Peirce himself may have been trying to point the way in two additional passages. CSP: I use the word "Sign" in the widest sense for any medium for the communication or extension of a Form (or feature). Being medium, it is determined by something, called its Object, and determines something, called its Interpretant or Interpretand ... In order that a Form may be extended or communicated, it is necessary that it should have been really embodied in a Subject independently of the communication; and it is necessary that there should be another Subject in which the same Form is embodied only in consequence of the communication. The Form (and the Form is the Object of the Sign), as it really determines the former Subject, is quite independent of the sign ... (EP 2:477; 1906) To me, this is saying that both the (Dynamic) Object and (Dynamic) Interpretant are distinct Subjects that are independent of the Sign, which causes the same Form that was previously embodied in the former to become embodied in the latter. CSP: I define a Sign as anything which is so determined by something else, called its Object, and so determines an effect upon a person, which effect I call its Interpretant, that the latter is thereby mediately determined by the former. My insertion of "upon a person" is a sop to Cerberus, because I despair of making my own broader conception understood. (EP 2:478; 1908) Here the Object is "something else" than the Sign, while the Interpretant is the "effect" of the Sign; so again, it strikes me as saying that they are separate. Of course, this is also the most famous quote demonstrating that Peirce intended his model of Sign-action to have very broad application. This has gotten a bit long, so I will stop there for now, and ask one more time--what do you think? Thanks, Jon On Fri, Mar 31, 2017 at 6:05 PM, Edwina Taborsky wrote: Oh dear - it was certainly nice while it lasted. I'm going to disagree with your suggestion that there could be a Representamen without an external Dynamic Object...at some point in its experience. That is, I don't see the Representamen - or any of the triad - as 'standing alone'. Peirce DOES, after all, define the Representamen as 'the first correlate of a triadic relation'. A Representamen, in my understanding, acts as mediation and how can such an action exist - except within mediation or interaction with something else? Equally, I can't see that the INTERNAL object, i.e., the Immediate Object could exist without the iconic or indexical or symbolic stimuli of an external Dynamic Object. I can, however, accept that there might be only an internal Immediate Interpretant which never makes it to the externality of being a Dynamic Interpretant. And it is still possible that the Representamen might be functioning only within the stimulation of a Dynamic Object-Immediate Object and does not actually produce even an Immediate Interpretant. And I see your image of a triad made up of the Internal aspects of the Object-Interpretant, I,e, the Immediate Object-Representamen-Immediate interpretant, but, I still consider that the real genuine triad has to have that externality. Edwina -- This message is virus free, protected by Primus - Canada's largest alternative telecommunications provider. http://www.primus.ca [4] On Fri 31/03/17 5:29 PM , Jon Alan Schmidt jonalanschm...@gmail.com sent: Edwina, List: At the risk of pressing our luck, since we have already unexpectedly identified at least two points of agreement today, I would like to revisit (selectively) some comments that I posted yesterday. CSP: A Representamen is the First Correlate of a triadic relation, the Second Correlate being termed its Object, and the possible Third Correlate being termed its Interpretant, by which triadic relation the possible Interpretant is determined to be the First Correlate of the same triadic relation to the same Object, and for some possible Interpretant. (EP 2:290, emphases in original; 1903) Notice that Peirce twice characterized the Interpretant as "possible"; here is a second passage that touches on that. CSP: Namely, while no Representamen actually functions as such until it actually determines an Interpretant, yet it becomes a Representamen as soon as it is fully capable of doing this; and its Representative Quality is not necessarily dependent upon its ever actually determining an Interpretant, nor even upon its actually having an Object. (CP 2.275, emphases added; c. 1902) My understanding is thus that every Sign/Representamen has an Immediate Object and determines an Immediate Interpretant, because those are real possibilities that are internal to it; but evidently there might be such a thing as a Sign/Representamen that has no Dynamic Object and/or (especially) determines no Dynamic Interpretant, because those are external to it. I wonder if recognizing these distinctions--possible vs. actual, and internal vs. external--could be a way to reconcile "the Sign as triad" (with Immediate Object/Interpretant) and "the Sign as one correlate of a triadic relation" (with Dynamic Object/Interpretant). What do you think? Regards, Jon Alan Schmidt - Olathe, Kansas, USAProfessional Engineer, Amateur Philosopher, Lutheran Laymanwww.LinkedIn.com/in/JonAlanSchmidt [5] - twitter.com/JonAlanSchmidt [6] Links: ------ [1] http://webmail.primus.ca/javascript:top.opencompose(\'tabor...@primus.ca\',\'\',\'\',\'\') [2] http://www.primus.ca [3] http://webmail.primus.ca/javascript:top.opencompose(\'jonalanschm...@gmail.com\',\'\',\'\',\'\') [4] http://www.primus.ca [5] http://www.LinkedIn.com/in/JonAlanSchmidt [6] http://twitter.com/JonAlanSchmidt
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