Dear Ben,
Although the dialogic makes these passages a little difficult to read, it seems
very clear to me that Peirce, in CP 4.549, is explicitly not referring to his
own categories as predicated predicates, or assertions on assertions.
I think the question of "what is a category" is clearly addressed earlier, in
CP 4.544, Peirce says:
"... of superior importance in Logic is the use of Indices to denote Categories
and Universes, which are classes that, being enormously large, very
promiscuous, and known but in small part, cannot be satisfactorily defined, and
therefore can only be denoted by Indices."
Best regards,
Steven
--
Dr. Steven Ericsson-Zenith
Institute for Advanced Science & Engineering
http://iase.info
On Mar 7, 2012, at 1:28 PM, Benjamin Udell wrote:
> Jon, list,
>
> The passage by Peirce that you quoted below has nagged at me for some time.
> On your mywikibiz page to which you linked, as regards that passage, you said
> "The first thing to extract from this passage is the fact that Peirce's
> Categories, or 'Predicaments', are predicates of predicates"
>
> In the editors' footnote to CP 4.549, the editors say that what there Peirce
> calls the Modes of Being are "Usually called categories by Peirce. See vol.
> 1, bk. III". Maybe they're wrong, but what here he calls the "Mods of Being"
> - "Actuality, Possibility, and Destiny (or Freedom from Destiny)" do at least
> comprise one of his formulations of his categories, even if not the
> definitive formulation.
>
> Peirce says "[...] what you have called Categories, but for which I prefer
> the designation Predicaments, and which you have explained as predicates of
> predicates.." Peirce everywhere else prefers the name Categories for his own
> categories and who is the "you" who would have been speaking of Peirce's own
> categories?
>
> Peirce says,
>
> [...] the divisions so obtained must not be confounded with the different
> Modes of Being: Actuality, Possibility, Destiny (or Freedom from Destiny).
> On the contrary, the succession of Predicates of Predicates is different in
> the different Modes of Being.
>
> Where else does he say that the successions of his categories are "different
> in the different Modes of Being"? Where in his other writings does he call
> his own categories "predicates of predicates"? It's hard not to think that by
> "Predicates of Predicates" he does not mean his own categories, and instead
> that, at most, 1st-intentional, 2nd-intentional, and 3rd-intentional
> entities, on which he says that his "thoughts are not yet harvested," will
> end up being treated by him as Firsts, Seconds, Thirds - instances or
> applications of his categories.
>
> Best, Ben
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Jon Awbrey
> To: PEIRCE-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
> Sent: Wednesday, March 07, 2012 3:30 PM
> Subject: Re: [peirce-l] Categorical Aspects of Abduction, Deduction, Induction
>
> Peircers,
>
> Here is a passage that I think is critical for
> understanding what Peirce meant by a category.
>
> | I will now say a few words about what you have
> | called Categories, but for which I prefer the
> | designation Predicaments, and which you have
> | explained as predicates of predicates.
> |
> | That wonderful operation of hypostatic abstraction by which
> | we seem to create ''entia rationis'' that are, nevertheless,
> | sometimes real, furnishes us the means of turning predicates
> | from being signs that we think or think ''through'', into being
> | subjects thought of. We thus think of the thought-sign itself,
> | making it the object of another thought-sign.
> |
> | Thereupon, we can repeat the operation of hypostatic abstraction,
> | and from these second intentions derive third intentions. Does this
> | series proceed endlessly? I think not. What then are the characters
> | of its different members?
> |
> | My thoughts on this subject are not yet harvested. I will only say that
> | the subject concerns Logic, but that the divisions so obtained must not be
> | confounded with the different Modes of Being: Actuality, Possibility,
> Destiny
> | (or Freedom from Destiny).
> |
> | On the contrary, the succession of Predicates of Predicates is different
> | in the different Modes of Being. Meantime, it will be proper that in our
> | system of diagrammatization we should provide for the division, whenever
> | needed, of each of our three Universes of modes of reality into ''Realms''
> | for the different Predicaments.
> |
> | C.S. Peirce, CP 4.549, “Prolegomena to an Apology for Pragmaticism”,
> | The Monist 16, 492–546 (1906), CP 4.530–572.
>
> The way that Peirce explains his concept of a category in this passage is also
> helpful in building a bridge, or seeing the underlying continuities that
> exist,
> between the categories of Aristotle and Kant and the mathematical concept of
> a category that we find in play in more recent times. I began an exploration
> of this connection in a page of rough notes that I collected a while back.
>
> • http://mywikibiz.com/Directory:Jon_Awbrey/Notes/Precursors
>
> Regards,
>
> Jon
>
> --
>
> academia: http://independent.academia.edu/JonAwbrey
> inquiry list: http://stderr.org/pipermail/inquiry/
> mwb: http://www.mywikibiz.com/Directory:Jon_Awbrey
> oeiswiki: http://www.oeis.org/wiki/User:Jon_Awbrey
> word press blog 1: http://jonawbrey.wordpress.com/
> word press blog 2: http://inquiryintoinquiry.com/
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to the PEIRCE-L
> listserv. To remove yourself from this list, send a message to
> lists...@listserv.iupui.edu with the line "SIGNOFF PEIRCE-L" in the body of
> the message. To post a message to the list, send it to
> PEIRCE-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to the PEIRCE-L
listserv. To remove yourself from this list, send a message to
lists...@listserv.iupui.edu with the line "SIGNOFF PEIRCE-L" in the body of the
message. To post a message to the list, send it to PEIRCE-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
