List: Still attempting to avoid any interpretive commentary just yet, here is what those quotes tell us about Quasi-minds, in their likely order of composition.
- EP 2:389 - Every Sign, or nearly every Sign, is a determination of a Quasi-mind. - EP 2:391 - The Object determines the Sign only in the respect that enables the Sign to act upon the interpreting Quasi-mind as if the Object itself were acting upon it. - EP 2:391 - A Sign is best regarded as a determination of a Quasi-mind, rather than as an outward object that addresses itself to a Quasi-mind. - EP 2:544n22 - A Sign is a medium for communication of a Form among at least two (if not three) Quasi-minds. - EP 2:544n22 - Quasi-minds are things capable of varied determination as to Forms of the kind communicated, but it is not logically necessary that they possess consciousness. - EP 2:545n25 - A Quasi-mind is a perfect Sign, the aggregate formed by a Sign and all the Signs which its occurrence carries with it. - EP 2:545n25 - A Quasi-mind is the sheet of assertion of Existential Graphs. - EP 2:545n25 - A Quasi-mind is, like anything else, susceptible to determination in a certain way; and each such determination is an event occurring once for all and never again. - SS 195 - Every Sign must be a determination of a Quasi-mind, which is itself a determinable Sign, even if that Quasi-mind is one's future self. - CP 4.536 - A Sign produces an Interpretant in the Quasi-mind that is its interpreter by determining the latter to a feeling, exertion, or Sign. - CP 4.550 - Whatever represents The Truth in our Diagram must be regarded as the Quasi-mind of all the Signs represented on it. - CP 4.550 - Signs so connected that a complex of two of them can have one Interpretant are the determinations of one Sign, which is a Quasi-mind. - CP 4.551 - Connected Signs must have a Quasi-mind, and there are no isolated Signs. - CP 4.551 - Every Sign requires at least two distinct Quasi-minds, a Quasi-utterer and a Quasi-interpreter, which are at one (welded) in the Sign itself. - CP 4.553 - The Phemic Sheet is the Quasi-mind, which is determined by the Graph-instances scribed on it, and in which the Graphist and Interpreter are at one. - CP 4.553 - This Quasi-mind is a Seme of The Truth, the widest Universe of Reality, and a Pheme of all that is tacitly taken for granted between the Graphist and Interpreter. Peirce wrote all of these passages during the early months of 1906--the EP manuscripts in January, the SS letter in March, and the CP article in May (published in October). Consequently, it is reasonable to assume that they are mutually consistent, and attempt to ascertain *his *concept of a Quasi-mind accordingly. Combining and rearranging the information above--and thus finally injecting a little bit of interpretation on my part--yields the following condensed version. 1. A Quasi-mind is a *perfect *Sign, the aggregate or complex of all Signs that have previously determined it, which are so connected that they can have *one *Interpretant. 2. A Quasi-mind is a *determinable *Sign, capable of varied determination as to Forms of the kind communicated by a Sign, but not necessarily *conscious*. 3. Every such determination of a Quasi-mind is an *event *that occurs once for all and never again. 4. A Sign cannot be isolated, but is *always *connected to other Signs, and thus *must *have a Quasi-mind. 5. A Sign in fact requires at least* two* distinct Quasi-minds, its utterer and its interpreter, which are at one (welded) in the Sign itself. 6. A Sign is a medium for communication of a Form *between *these Quasi-minds, which may be past and future versions of the *same * Quasi-mind. 7. A Sign is determined by its Object *only *in the respect that enables it to act upon a Quasi-mind (its interpreter) *as if* the Object itself were acting upon that Quasi-mind. 8. A Sign is the determination of a Quasi-mind (its interpreter) to produce a feeling, exertion, or other Sign *as *its Interpretant. 9. A Sign is best regarded as this *determination *of a Quasi-mind (its interpreter), rather than as an outward *Object *that addresses itself to that Quasi-mind. 10. For Existential Graphs, the sheet of assertion or Phemic Sheet that represents *The Truth* is the Quasi-mind of all Signs scribed on it, in which the Graphist and Interpreter are at one. 11. This Quasi-mind is a *Seme *[Rheme] of the widest Universe of Reality, and a *Pheme *[Dicisign] of all that is tacitly taken for granted between the Graphist and Interpreter. Does anything here seem incongruent with the original quotes, or have I accurately summarized them? Thanks, Jon Alan Schmidt - Olathe, Kansas, USA Professional Engineer, Amateur Philosopher, Lutheran Layman www.LinkedIn.com/in/JonAlanSchmidt - twitter.com/JonAlanSchmidt
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