1) EDWINA: I] Essentially, you seem to be saying that there is no such thing as 
stored knowledge - which can be stored both genetically and epigenetically. You 
seem to be saying, if I understand you correctly, that continuity of behaviour 
exists only by imitation, where, I presume, the young imitate the elders. This 
is equally a hypothesis/conjectural. I would guess that your species introduces 
new behaviour..by accident?...and if it is successful..others imitate it? I 
wouldn't agree to that accidental hypothesis..

Your idea of 'morphic resonance' [could you explain it simply?]...seems to be 
rather similar to instinct/ communal knowledge, i.e., stored general knowledge 
within the species.  

STEPHEN: https://www.sheldrake.org/research/morphic-resonance

EDWINA: How does the self emerge? How does a newborn antelope know how to 
suckle from its mother? How to run? It has no experience of either action. How 
does a leaf 'know' how to expand; how does a flower 'know' how to turn to the 
sun?

STEPHEN: How the self emerges… through the experiences that wire the 
neuroplastic brain. Refer to Pragmatism, neural plasticity and mind-body unity.
        How a newborn antelope (or calf or cub of any species) knows how to 
suckle from its mother… This is a particularly interesting question, because it 
raises the question of the mother’s involvement. There is the simple “rooting 
reflex” in the young, but I also wonder whether the mothers of different 
species have a direct part to play, by virtue of the need to be relieved of 
accumulating milk, and the associated stimuli. Do mothers play any active role 
in guiding the young to the source of milk (I just tried googling on this, but 
without success)? If they do, then the question of information determinism 
merits an even closer look. And now, having said all this… could it be that the 
rooting reflex is actually physiologically based, and does not come from the 
brain at all? Like the knee-jerk reflex, is it confined to the facial muscles 
and senses of the infant and has no brain involvement at all, at least 
initially? In other words, the infant is not acting on a knowing defined by 
information, but on a physiological predisposition.
        How a newborn antelope learns to run… it has legs, it is motivated to 
use its legs, and in an effort to use its legs it wires its brain. It’s the 
same as when a newborn human infant gropes into empty space, feeling its new 
hands, testing the nature of space… in the course of doing all this, it is 
wiring its brain. Again, refer to Pragmatism, neural plasticity and mind-body 
unity.
________________________________________

2) EDWINA: An example would be the populations in Egypt, Aztec, Inca; none were 
ever in contact and yet - ALL developed symbolic methods of storing 
information; i.e., some form of symbolic reference system [writing] to store 
their information about harvests, beliefs, rules. None were in contact with 
each other. Also all developed architecture of 'high temples'. The 
commonalities, however, were that all had high populations dependent on 
irrigation agriculture, which requires a large passive work force. All also set 
up the Rulers as God-Kings to effectively enslave the population. 

As for your 'pre-disposition' of man - this seems to me to be based on the 
actuality of the human mind to 'REASON' and think and anticipate/plan/ and to 
imagine. This is specific to our species. 

STEPHEN: I can’t comment on your example with references to Egypt, Aztec, Inca, 
etc, because I don’t know enough about them. Having said that, though, similar 
patterns are observed in most of the earliest human cultures, including the 
European ones, eg., Vikings. Mind-body predispositions predispose humans to 
this kind of thing. And regarding the apparent parallels between Egypt, Aztec 
and Inca… can we be sure that visitors, no matter how rare they might be, don’t 
return back home marveling in awe of the spectacle that was observed in a 
strange, foreign land, and thus carry the seed to recreate the same kinds of 
monuments? It’s all very conjectural Edwina, and I’m not convinced. Having said 
all this, though… there is the equally conjectural morphic resonance that might 
account for intercultural parallels.
________________________________________

3) EDWINA; I disagree. The capacity to imagine, to anticipate, and thus to use 
symbolic imagery, is, in my view, the key to speech - whether it is in visual 
images or spoken word. The fact that the ape can't physiologically speak isn't 
the point; the ape can't imagine beyond a limited range.

STEPHEN: The capacity to imagine, anticipate and use symbolic imagery has been 
demonstrated across other species of animals. Corvids have been shown to be 
particularly smart in this regard. Human exceptionalism is seductive, but it 
trivializes the fact that anything that a human knows has been obtained not 
from lone cerebral smarts, but from the accumulated experiences of culture. 
Imitation, in other words.
        An example of smart crows: 
https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/10/scientists-investigate-why-crows-are-so-playful/
        Feral children (children raised by wild animals): Insofar as we can 
accept rare evidence at face value, feral children do not appear to possess a 
superior human intelligence that enables them rise above and beyond the 
creatures that raised them.
________________________________________

4) EDWINA;  An observation [induction] is not an analysis; it is simply an 
observation. I also disagree that the bird learns to fly from its parents. It 
has an instinctive capacity-to-fly. It doesn't need to watch some other bird in 
order to figure out that a wing can enable flight; that wing, on its own, 
enables flight. The brain is already 'wired to fly'. The bird doesn't fly and 
then, 'wire its brain'.

STEPHEN: No, the brain is not wired to fly… not at all. The body is predisposed 
to fly, and it is that predisposition that plays the most important part in 
wiring the brain:
http://blogs.bu.edu/bioaerial2012/2012/10/09/nature-vs-nurture-how-do-baby-birds-learn-how-to-fly/

        Are not 'winged predispositions' the same as instinct? No, the 
predispositions relate to physiology. If an entity has the tools, it will be 
motivated to use them. This is how living entities define the things that 
matter (pragmatism). And it is the usage of them that wires the brain.
________________________________________

5) EDWINA; So- where is Thirdness in your line of thinking? You seem to define 
Firstness as Will. Is that the case - that you define Firstness as Will? But 
genuine Firstness has no predisposition. It is independent. And therefore - 
where is Reason or Mind in your theory?

STEPHEN: I take your point. However, I think that there are some primal 
motivators that relate to all creatures. The known versus the unknown, for 
example. And that primal “fear of the unknown” provides the impetus for a lot 
of decision-making… and hence, the importance of imitation. The “desire to be” 
is another primal motivator… another dimension of the “fear of the unknown”.
________________________________________

6) EDWINA: I see. But isn't the individual self networked to the collective? 
Indeed - an articulation of the collective?

STEPHEN: Yes, I agree. In my paper The law of association of habits, I refer to 
Peirce’s “The man is the thought” and extend this to “The culture is the 
thought”. I’m not sure that we have all that much to disagree with here (but 
I’m waiting on you to find something J).
________________________________________

7) EDWINA;  I agree with you that life is/was inevitable - and functions to 
prevent entropic dissipation of energy. I don't agree that stored information 
is inconsistent with the reality of entropy. After all, entropy operates along 
with 'far-from-equilibrium complex systems that 'fight' entropy. The two work 
together. I also reject the NeoDarwinian theory of evolution, for I reject that 
randomness [a mechanical action] can function as a successful method of 
adaptation. 

EDWINA; I would argue that it is not only the persistence of complexity but the 
increased complexity of systems [CAS, complex adaptive systems] that supports a 
universe based around information DYNAMICS. That is - I am seeing the universe 
as a complex information system, which operates semiosically.  This is NOT 
information determinism which does indeed suggest mechanical rigidity.... , but 
information dynamics, where stability-of-type is maintained within stored 
information - and adaptation and change of type.. is enabled by interactive 
dynamic freedom to generate novel information. 

STEPHEN: I was a fan of CAS for a while. Indeed, chaos theory, systems theory, 
etc, are still relevant to my way of thinking. But because of the entropy 
problem, I’ve revised my thinking along these lines, and semiosis has some 
considerable part to play. I no longer accept that purely materialistic CAS can 
adequately account for life and evolution.

The problem of entropy is the problem of degrees of freedom. Of all the 
“optional routes” that an entity (atom, molecule, cell, animal, etc, etc) can 
finish up taking, why should it take the route most favorable to life?
________________________________________
________________________________________



From: Edwina Taborsky [mailto:tabor...@primus.ca] 
Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2017 10:09 PM
To: tabor...@primus.ca; g...@gnusystems.ca; peirce-l@list.iupui.edu; 'Mike 
Bergman'; Stephen Jarosek
Subject: Re: RE: RE: RE: Re: [PEIRCE-L] Laws of Nature

 

Stephen, list: Thanks for your comments - See my replies below:



On Sun 10/12/17 2:35 PM , "Stephen Jarosek" sjaro...@iinet.net.au sent:

1] EDWINA>” You say 'how a living entity, as a self, defines the things that 
matter'. But how does the 'self' emerge? Exist? How does it KNOW the 'things 
that matter'. After all - does a bird have to, via its own self, learn which 
insects are food and which are poisonous, or is there an innate stored 
knowledge base that provides such information to the collective, of which that 
single bird is merely one example? ”

STEPHEN; My position on this is that imitation plays just as vital a role for 
birds. Furthermore, I am also receptive to Rupert Sheldrake’s morphic resonance 
theory, because it is consistent with the DNA nonlocality that I discuss in my 
article, Quantum Semiotics 
<http://journals.sfu.ca/jnonlocality/index.php/jnonlocality/article/view/64/63> 
. The idea that knowledge of which insects are food and which are poisonous is 
somehow stored in the genetic code, in the sense of information determinism, is 
conjectural. The question of morphic resonance (and DNA nonlocality) introduces 
another subconscious level of choice-making, as an alternative to instinct in 
the sense of information determinism. And what do you mean by “How does the 
‘self’ emerge?” It emerges by experience, and experience wires the neuroplastic 
brain (Norman Doidge, The Brain that Changes Itself).

EDWINA: I] Essentially, you seem to be saying that there is no such thing as 
stored knowledge - which can be stored both genetically and epigenetically. You 
seem to be saying, if I understand you correctly, that continuity of behaviour 
exists only by imitation, where, I presume, the young imitate the elders. This 
is equally a hypothesis/conjectural. I would guess that your species introduces 
new behaviour..by accident?...and if it is successful..others imitate it? I 
wouldn't agree to that accidental hypothesis..

 Your idea of 'morphic resonance' [could you explain it simply?]...seems to be 
rather similar to instinct/ communal knowledge, i.e., stored general knowledge 
within the species.  

 How does the self emerge? How does a newborn antelope know how to suckle from 
its mother? How to run? It has no experience of either action. How does a leaf 
'know' how to expand; how does a flower 'know' how to turn to the sun?

----------------------------------------------------------

2] EDWINA; >”But this didn't explain how different isolated populations 
developed the same technology or mode of behaviour/belief.”

STEPHEN; Examples? I can’t really comment without specifics. HOW different are 
these different, isolated examples? For example, communities that were once 
connected but later become isolated from one another, will share the same 
predispositions in cultural logic, to go on to create the parallel technologies 
and beliefs. Predispositions are as relevant to cultures as they are to 
mind-bodies. A human mind-body (hands, vocal-cords) is predisposed to 
self-evident inventions like fire and the wheel, or even mud huts and tree huts 
and even pottery, across most cultures, even when they are isolated from one 
another.

EDWINA: An example would be the populations in Egypt, Aztec, Inca; none were 
ever in contact and yet - ALL developed symbolic methods of storing 
information; i.e., some form of symbolic reference system [writing] to store 
their information about harvests, beliefs, rules. None were in contact with 
each other. Also all developed architecture of 'high temples'. The 
commonalities, however, were that all had high populations dependent on 
irrigation agriculture, which requires a large passive work force. All also set 
up the Rulers as God-Kings to effectively enslave the population. 

As for your 'pre-disposition' of man - this seems to me to be based on the 
actuality of the human mind to 'REASON' and think and anticipate/plan/ and to 
imagine. This is specific to our species. 

===============

3] EDWINA>”that the FORM of matter, i.e., a particular body-shape predisposes 
the organism as to its behaviour.”

STEPHEN; The late Tomas Sebeok’s line of thinking basically parallels my own, 
when he attributes an ape’s inability to speak to the absence of vocal chords:
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/02/us/thomas-sebeok-81-debunker-of-ape-human-speech-theory.html
 

EDWINA; I disagree. The capacity to imagine, to anticipate, and thus to use 
symbolic imagery, is, in my view, the key to speech - whether it is in visual 
images or spoken word. The fact that the ape can't physiologically speak isn't 
the point; the ape can't imagine beyond a limited range.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

4] EDWINA;>”So - the wings of a bird will predispose it to fly - but that's not 
an analysis in my view.”

STEPHEN; What do you mean that it’s not an analysis? It’s a self-evident 
observation… like an axiom. Experience wires the neuroplastic brain (Norman 
Doidge), and a winged animal is predisposed to wiring its brain to fly. 
Furthermore, in many species of birds, young birds learn to fly from their 
parents. That is, they learn to apply their winged predispositions, from their 
parents. So again, imitation plays an important role, despite the physiological 
predispositions.

EDWINA;  An observation [induction] is not an analysis; it is simply an 
observation. I also disagree that the bird learns to fly from its parents. It 
has an instinctive capacity-to-fly. It doesn't need to watch some other bird in 
order to figure out that a wing can enable flight; that wing, on its own, 
enables flight. The brain is already 'wired to fly'. The bird doesn't fly and 
then, 'wire its brain'. 

Are not 'winged predispositions' the same as instinct?

-----------------------------------------------------

5; EDWINA; >”Am I correct that your analysis excludes Mind and Thirdness? It 
seems to focus primarily on Firstness and Secondness - if I may use these 
Peircean categories within its framework.”

STEPHEN; Absolutely not. Thirdness is integral to my line of thinking. I was 
addressing that aspect of semiosis - pragmatism and imitation - that is best 
characterized in the context of firstness and secondness. What is it that 
motivates an organism to imitate (the associations that become habits)? That’s 
a question, in the first instance, of Firstness.

EDWINA; So- where is Thirdness in your line of thinking? You seem to define 
Firstness as Will. Is that the case - that you define Firstness as Will? But 
genuine Firstness has no predisposition. It is independent. And therefore - 
where is Reason or Mind in your theory?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6]EDWINA>”It also seems to focus on the individual [as Self] rather than the 
collective [i.e., that exclusion of Thirdness].”

STEPHEN; Again, as per preceding point, I am addressing that aspect of semiosis 
– pragmatism and imitation – that most immediately takes place at the level of 
the self. There is, of course, the collective that provides the recursion of 
behaviors that manifests as habit, or Thirdness, but that’s beyond the point 
that I wanted to emphasize.

EDWINA: I see. But isn't the individual self networked to the collective? 
Indeed - an articulation of the collective?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

STEPHEN; Just a final comment on what I am trying to achieve with my line of 
thinking. There are now estimated to be trillions of galaxies throughout the 
universe, with a couple hundred-thousand stars per galaxy. What I am outlining, 
with my line of thinking, suggests life as inevitable, and not accidental. It’s 
a living universe. Mine is an attempt to address the entropy problem - Shannon 
entropy, thermodynamic entropy, entropy as the tendency to disorder. By 
contrast, the notion of instinct as stored information, as with the 
NeoDarwinian theory of evolution, are inconsistent with the reality of entropy. 
It is the persistence of complexity across time, as evident in the persistence 
of life across time on Earth, that is the deal-breaker for any kind of 
information determinism.

EDWINA;  I agree with you that life is/was inevitable - and functions to 
prevent entropic dissipation of energy. I don't agree that stored information 
is inconsistent with the reality of entropy. After all, entropy operates along 
with 'far-from-equilibrium complex systems that 'fight' entropy. The two work 
together. I also reject the NeoDarwinian theory of evolution, for I reject that 
randomness [a mechanical action] can function as a successful method of 
adaptation. 

EDWINA; I would argue that it is not only the persistence of complexity but the 
increased complexity of systems [CAS, complex adaptive systems] that supports a 
universe based around information DYNAMICS. That is - I am seeing the universe 
as a complex information system, which operates semiosically.  This is NOT 
information determinism which does indeed suggest mechanical rigidity.... , but 
information dynamics, where stability-of-type is maintained within stored 
information - and adaptation and change of type.. is enabled by interactive 
dynamic freedom to generate novel information. 



Regards sj

 

From: Edwina Taborsky [mailto:tabor...@primus.ca 
<javascript:top.opencompose('tabor...@primus.ca','','','')> ] 
Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2017 5:40 PM
To: tabor...@primus.ca 
<javascript:top.opencompose('tabor...@primus.ca','','','')> ; 
g...@gnusystems.ca <javascript:top.opencompose('g...@gnusystems.ca','','','')> 
; peirce-l@list.iupui.edu 
<javascript:top.opencompose('peirce-l@list.iupui.edu','','','')> ; 'Mike 
Bergman'; Stephen Jarosek
Subject: Re: RE: RE: Re: [PEIRCE-L] Laws of Nature

 

Stephen, list:


I think that this is a vastly different perspective from one that includes Mind 
and Thirdness.

You say 'how a living entity, as a self, defines the things that matter'. But 
how does the 'self' emerge? Exist? How does it KNOW the 'things that matter'. 
After all - does a bird have to, via its own self, learn which insects are food 
and which are poisonous, or is there an innate stored knowledge base that 
provides such information to the collective, of which that single bird is 
merely one example? 

As for 'imitation' - this sounds similar to the old 'diffusion' explanation of 
human behaviour, where it was assumed that a new technology was invented once 
and then, diffused by imitation to other populations. But this didn't explain 
how different isolated populations developed the same technology or mode of 
behaviour/belief.

You seem to be saying, if I understand you correctly, that the FORM of matter, 
i.e., a particular body-shape predisposes the organism as to its behaviour. So 
- the wings of a bird will predispose it to fly - but that's not an analysis in 
my view. 

Am I correct that your analysis excludes Mind and Thirdness? It seems to focus 
primarily on Firstness and Secondness - if I may use these Peircean categories 
within its framework.

It also seems to focus on the individual [as Self] rather than the collective 
[i.e., that exclusion of Thirdness]. 

Edwina

 


 

On Sun 10/12/17 11:19 AM , "Stephen Jarosek" sjaro...@iinet.net.au 
<javascript:top.opencompose('sjaro...@iinet.net.au','','','')>  sent:

Hi Edwina

No, knowing how to be is not a synonym for instinct. It is an expression of 
pragmatism, and how a living entity, as a self, defines the things that matter. 
It particularly relates to firstness and self. Knowing how to be incorporates 
the self into pragmatism. I suppose one might say, in this context, that a 
proper appreciation of firstness needs to factor in the role of self, and the 
self’s relationship to the world, in the context of its needs. By taking this 
approach, we attain a different and more compelling perspective on the role of 
imitation, particularly in the context of pragmatism. By factoring in 
imitation, we obtain a greater appreciation of the nuances that motivate a self 
to imitation… for example, fear. Fear motivates selves to imitate the current 
Bitcoin craze… the fear of missing out, versus the fear of loss when people 
begin to flee the market. The comfortable known versus fear of the unknown.

Mind-body predisposition… again, relates to pragmatism. The body provides the 
“tools” that predispose us to how we define the things that matter… as per Mark 
Twain’s famous aphorism, ‘A man whose only tool is a hammer will perceive the 
world in terms of nails’.

There are different layers to pragmatism, for example:

1)      There are the mind-body predispositions;

2)       There is imitation.

 

Imitation sometimes overrides mind-body predispositions, for example, in the 
domestication of animals or in the feralization of humans (feral children, eg, 
the Wild Boy of Aveyron).

Regards

  

From: Edwina Taborsky [mailto:tabor...@primus.ca <javascript:top.opencompose(> 
] 
Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2017 4:26 PM
To: tabor...@primus.ca <javascript:top.opencompose(> ; g...@gnusystems.ca 
<javascript:top.opencompose(> ; peirce-l@list.iupui.edu 
<javascript:top.opencompose(> ; 'Mike Bergman'; Stephen Jarosek
Subject: Re: RE: Re: [PEIRCE-L] Laws of Nature

 


Stephen - the problem I have with your hypothesis is that you haven't explained 
what 'know how to be' involves. How does it exist? Where? How does it evolve? 
It seems to be a synonym for 'instinct'! 

What is a 'mind-body' predisposition?

Edwina
 

On Sun 10/12/17 10:05 AM , "Stephen Jarosek" sjaro...@iinet.net.au 
<javascript:top.opencompose(>  sent:

List, in the interests of the universality of semiosis, it would be helpful, I 
believe, to do away entirely with the notion of instinct. No such thing. ALL 
organism's are decision-makers, making choices from their ecosystems. What one 
might typically categorize as instinct, in other animals, is nothing other than 
a reduced horizon of options (analogous to a goldfish living inside a small 
bowl instead of a wide ocean). ALL organisms have to "know how to be." A fish 
behaves exactly as I would behave if my body were that of a fish. Or, putting 
it another way… a man behaves as a woman would behave if her body were that of 
a man.

And once we do away with this notion of instinct as a preprogrammed blueprint 
for behavior, so too we might extend the same reasoning to atoms and molecules. 
That is, the mechanics of chemical bonds and subatomic forces are not what 
"determine" atomic and molecular properties (behavior). Rather, atoms and 
molecules must also "know how to be", in accordance with their own mind-body 
predispositions... that's why semiosis is relevant also to quantum mechanics, 
imho... and nonlocality (entanglement) is integral to enabling semiosis to take 
place at that level. The mechanics of chemical bonds and subatomic forces are 
the product of semiosis, and not its cause. Hence the motivation behind my 
previously-referenced article, Quantum Semiotics 
<http://journals.sfu.ca/jnonlocality/index.php/jnonlocality/article/view/64/63> 
. 

While we are discussing the role of mind-body predispositions in semiosis and 
pragmatism... I am reminded of Simon and Garfunkel's El Condor Pasa. In its 
original form, it was a Peruvian folk song about a group of Andean miners who 
were exploited by their boss. The condor (condor mind-body) looks from the sky, 
at the human mind-bodies toiling away in the mines, and it becomes the symbol 
of freedom for the miners to achieve:

I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail
Yes, I would; If I could; I surely would

I'd rather be a hammer than a nail
Yes, I would; If I only could; I surely would

Away, I'd rather sail away
Like a swan that's here and gone
A man gets tied up to the ground
He gives the world its saddest sound
It's saddest sound

I'd rather be a forest than a street
Yes, I would; If I could; I surely would

I'd rather feel the earth beneath my feet
Yes, I would; If I only could; I surely would

Regards

 

 

From: Edwina Taborsky [ mailto:tabor...@primus.ca <javascript:top.opencompose(> 
] 
Sent: Sunday, December 10, 2017 2:07 AM
To: g...@gnusystems.ca <javascript:top.opencompose(> ; peirce-l@list.iupui.edu 
<javascript:top.opencompose(> ; Mike Bergman
Subject: Re: Re: [PEIRCE-L] Laws of Nature

  

Mike, list - My reference to semiosis within the physical realm refers to its 
functioning as a triadic process: Object-Representamen-Interpretant, with each 
of these nodes in any one of the three modal categories. 

Certainly, as in the quotes from my other post - habit-taking is a basic 
quality in the physical realm [see his discussion of such by atoms]. But 
semiosis is not simply habit-taking [ which is a modal category]. It is a 
relational or interactive process where one 'bit' of matter interacts with 
another 'bit' of matter. This is not, as Peirce frequently pointed out, 
confined to mechanical interactions [Secondness], but includes both spontaneity 
[Firstness]  and also, Mind or Thirdness. 

But - the focus is on the results of these interactions. Does a crystal simply 
increase its size by simple mechanical contact or, are its atoms such that Mind 
both attracts and organizes this expansion. The latter is a key semiosic 
interaction. [though I would say that a simple mechanical triadic interaction 
is also semiosic - with each node [O-R-I]  in a mode of Secondness. But 
organization of the results of contact - involves Mind or Thirdness.

Edwina

 

On Sat 09/12/17 6:50 PM , Mike Bergman m...@mkbergman.com 
<javascript:top.opencompose(>  sent:

Hi Gary f, List,

I am generally familiar with the general references for laws and the tendencies 
to them. I guess I did not address my question well. Are there passages from 
Peirce where he specifically connects semiosis or signs to nature, other than 
the passing reference to crystals? I believe we can infer that Peirce likely 
believed the laws of nature to be subject to semiosis, but is it anywhere 
stated something like that? 

I found the connection of CP 5.105 'law of nature' to signs or semiosis in the 
context of my question to be unclear, though suggesting it was helpful. I read 
on and found CP 5.107 a little more to the point, but still vague. I do like 
the fact this comes up in his discussion of the reality of Thirdness. Still, 
pretty thin gruel. Maybe that is as strong as the evidence gets.

Thanks!

Mike

 

On 12/9/2017 5:02 PM, g...@gnusystems.ca <javascript:top.opencompose(>  wrote:

Mike,

 

There are plenty of passages in Peirce which virtually identify semiosis with 
Representation and thus with Thirdness, and the laws of nature being general 
laws, Thirdness is predominant in them. For instance there is CP 5.105, EP 
2:184):

[[ Thirdness, as I use the term, is only a synonym for Representation, to which 
I prefer the less colored term because its suggestions are not so narrow and 
special as those of the word Representation. Now it is proper to say that a 
general principle that is operative in the real world is of the essential 
nature of a Representation and of a Symbol because its modus operandi is the 
same as that by which words produce physical effects. ]]

 

Gary f.

 

From: Mike Bergman [mailto:m...@mkbergman.com <javascript:top.opencompose(> ] 
Sent: 9-Dec-17 17:25
To: peirce-l@list.iupui.edu <javascript:top.opencompose(> 
Subject: [PEIRCE-L] Laws of Nature

 

Hi List, 

I was reading Nathan Houser's piece on "Peirce, Phenomenology, and Semiotics" 
in the Routledge Companion [1] and came across this quote:

"One of the principal realms of sign activity, or semiosis (semeiosis), is 
human thought; but semiosis prevails wherever there is life and there is some 
reason to believe that even the laws of nature are semiotic products." 
(emphasis added) 

I am aware of the reference to crystals and bees (CP 4.551), but do not recall 
seeing Peirce references to signs in inanimate nature other than crystals. Does 
anyone on the list know of others?

Thanks!

Mike

[1] Houser, N., “Peirce, Phenomenology, and Semiotics,” The Routledge Companion 
to Semiotics, P. Cobley, ed., London  ; New York: Routledge, 2010, pp. 89–100.

 

 

 

 

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