Signs
Before we move from stopping to the Ethical Index, I want to think for a moment with you about signs.
I remember finding it odd that Charles Sanders Peirce, writing in the 1800s, would state so directly “all thought is in signs.”
I associated such talk with folk like Umberto Eco and semiotics. I read and read and did not understand. I soon learned Peirce built everything on semiotics. That means the elucidation of signs and symbols. Elucidate he did!
And I found:
“Semiotic” is, among other things:
A term from Locke
and
Domingo de Soto 1529
Pedro da Fonseca 1564
The Conimbricenses 1607
Francisco Araujo 1617
and
John Poinsot
whose Treatise on Signs appeared in 1632
And I even met this:
Peirce says:
“(All thought being performed by means of signs,
logic may be regarded as the science of the general laws of signs.
It has three branches:
1, Speculative Grammar, or the general theory of the nature and meanings of signs, whether they be icons, indices, or symbols;
2, Critic, which classifies arguments and determines the validity and degree of force of each kind;
3, Methodeutic, which studies the methods that ought to be pursued in the investigation, in the exposition, and in the application of truth.
Each division depends on that which precedes it.” (Peirce: CP 1.192)”
OK
Triadic Philosophy is not engaged in trying to harmonize with Peirce.
Peirce wrote volumes upon volumes of elucidation. Some published, some still barely read.
Triadic Philosophy takes Peirce’s point.
All thought IS in signs.
Yes!
A sign in Triadic Philosophy is what signifies something.
A sign leads to something.
A sign shows something.
A sign indicates something.
If you have a feeling you name, the feeling is a sign. The name is a sign. What you infer, adduce or deduce from it is a sign.
Wherewith we arrive at the agreement that, yes, all thought is in signs.
And of course
we can then see
why we cannot simply say
thought is words.
No
Anything can signify.
Words are merely a utility,
an arrow in the quiver of utilities
we are given as human beings
to get through life.
Signs are steps on the way to the next thing.
This cursor is a sign. Oh and now, now tells me STOP!!!
Sign upon sign.
More than words.
