Edwina, List:

ET: I think it's a sidestep red herring to claim that Gary F did not
describe the *person *of Robert Marty as 'post-Peircean' but was referring
to Marty's thoughts and analysis.


Like I already said, I personally find such labels counterproductive and
try to avoid them since they tend to distract participants from the *substance
*of the discussion.

ET: And that's one of the problems of this list - this definition of the
thoughts of someone who is using the analytic framework of Peirce as
somehow 'impure' or 'degenerate' with claims that Peirce 'didn't use those
words' etc.


It is not a matter of whether a given analytic framework is "somehow
'impure' or 'degenerate,'" but whether it is truly *Peirce's *analytic
framework. Terminology is important, but the issue is really whether *concepts
*are being deployed in way that is congruent with how *Peirce himself*
defines and uses them. If not, it might very well be *a* Peircean analytic
framework, or at least a *Peirce-inspired* analytic framework, but it is
not *the *Peircean analytic framework.

ET: I'm claiming such a final step is impossible because semiosis has no
final point.


Yes and no. According to Peirce, every text is a sign. Consequently, every
text has a final interpretant--how it *necessarily would* *be *understood
under ideal circumstances. Every text also has an immediate
interpretant--how it *possibly could* *be *understood in accordance with
the definitions of the words that comprise it, along with their arrangement
in accordance with the syntax and other rules of grammar for the system of
signs in which it is expressed. The result of any individual reading of a
text is a dynamical interpretant--how it *actually is *understood on that
particular occasion, which for any sincere inquirer is an
abductive/retroductive hypothesis about the final interpretant as the
proper *aim *of interpretation.

In order to be a *valid *understanding of the text, this dynamical
interpretant must be consistent with the immediate interpretant; and in
order to be an *accurate *understanding of the text, it must conform to the
final interpretant. Of course, all dynamical interpretants are fallible, so
we can never be *absolutely certain* that our understanding matches the
final interpretant. Nevertheless, we *can *ascertain when a particular
understanding is *inconsistent *with the immediate interpretant, and is
thus *objectively* invalid; and in such cases, we can also say with
confidence that such an understanding *does not* conform to the final
interpretant, and is thus *objectively *inaccurate--it is a *mis*understanding,
a *mis*interpretation.

Surely we agree that such misunderstanding and misinterpretation are
possible--in fact, all too common in human discourse. Peirce's semeiotic
provides this plausible explanation for those phenomena. While it is true
that "semiosis has no final point" in the sense of a last *actual *sign, it
does have a "final point" in the sense of a *telos *or ideal aim as I have
described here. Otherwise, why bother trying to communicate at all?

Regards,

Jon Alan Schmidt - Olathe, Kansas, USA
Structural Engineer, Synechist Philosopher, Lutheran Christian
www.LinkedIn.com/in/JonAlanSchmidt - twitter.com/JonAlanSchmidt

On Sun, Oct 17, 2021 at 5:24 PM Edwina Taborsky <tabor...@primus.ca> wrote:

> JAS, list
>
> I think it's a sidestep red herring to claim that Gary F did not describe
> the person of Robert Marty as 'post-Peircean' but was referring to
> Marty's thoughts and analysis. After all - if we were to actually call a
> person a 'post-Peircean' - what exactly would we be saying?? That he
> lives after 1914? The fact is - that the thoughts and analysis were called
> 'post-Peircean'.
>
> And that's one of the problems of this list - this definition of the
> thoughts of someone who is using the analytic framework of Peirce as
> somehow 'impure' or 'degenerate' with claims that Peirce 'didn't use those
> words' etc. After all - what does 'post-Peircean' actually mean? Does it
> mean an incorrect reading of the text? I've repeatedly said that we have to
> be VERY careful of our readings of texts - because ALL readings are not
> dyadic mirrors of the text or author's mind. Instead - they are our own
> interpretations - and we surely are aware of how varied such readings of
> the SAME texts can be. We cannot yet, if ever declare that one particular
> interpretation is The Final and Correct One.
>
> Therefore - I would also be against your suggestion that we should not
> move into applying Peirce's analytic framework to other fields - before we
> have declared what his work 'actually is'. I'm claiming such a final step
> is impossible because semiosis has no final point.
>
> Edwina
>
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