Category Archives: Inquiry

Information = Comprehension × Extension • Selection 1

Posted on June 20, 2026 by Jon Awbrey

I am going to begin with six selections from Peirce’s Lectures of 1866 where he addressess, among other things, the roles of signs informing sign relations and their connection with rules of inference guiding inquiries. ⁂ ⁂ ⁂ Our first … Continue reading →

Posted in Abduction, C.S. Peirce, Comprehension, Deduction, Extension, Hypothesis, Icon Index Symbol, Induction, Inference, Information = Comprehension × Extension, Inquiry, Intension, Logic, Peirce's Categories, Pragmatic Semiotic Information, Pragmatism, Scientific Method, Semiotics, Sign Relations | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Information = Comprehension × Extension • Preamble

Posted on June 16, 2026 by Jon Awbrey

Perhaps the best perspective from which to bring the connection between the theory of signs and the theory of inquiry into its proper focus is Peirce’s own Theory of Information, which he began setting forth in lectures at Harvard and … Continue reading →

Posted in Abduction, C.S. Peirce, Comprehension, Deduction, Extension, Hypothesis, Icon Index Symbol, Induction, Inference, Information = Comprehension × Extension, Inquiry, Intension, Logic, Peirce's Categories, Pragmatic Semiotic Information, Pragmatism, Scientific Method, Semiotics, Sign Relations | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Icon, Likeness, Likely Story, Likelihood, Probability • 4

Posted on June 13, 2026 by Jon Awbrey

Re: Icon, Likeness, Likely Story, Likelihood, Probability • 3 Re: Laws of Form • Lyle Anderson Lyle, We are engaged in the wider context of which Peirce’s systems of graphs for propositional logic and Spencer Brown’s calculus of indications constitute … Continue reading →

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Icon, Likeness, Likely Story, Likelihood, Probability • 3

Posted on May 23, 2026 by Jon Awbrey

The passages from Aristotle collected in the present and preceding two posts prepare the way to address overarching tasks in Peirce’s Logic of Science, namely, bringing the Theory of Signs and the Theory of Inquiry into their proper relationship and … Continue reading →

Posted in Analogy, Aristotle, C.S. Peirce, Icon Index Symbol, Induction, Inquiry, Likelihood, Likely Story, Likeness, Logic, Mathematics, Probability, Probable Reasoning, Semiotics, Sign Relations | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Icon, Likeness, Likely Story, Likelihood, Probability • 2

Posted on May 19, 2026 by Jon Awbrey

Re: Peirce List • Phyllis Chiasson I’m still a bit fuzzy on how Aristotle’s account relates to Peirce’s usage, though I’m pretty sure Peirce must have taken Aristotle’s usage into account, but it does seem that Aristotle drew some sort … Continue reading →

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Icon, Likeness, Likely Story, Likelihood, Probability • 1

Posted on May 17, 2026 by Jon Awbrey

Re: Peirce List • Benjamin Udell • Michael Shapiro Here’s a likely locus classicus for “icon” in its logical sense — A probability (εικος) is not the same as a sign (σηµειον).  The former is a generally accepted premiss;  for … Continue reading →

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Sign Relations • Graphical Representations

Posted on January 15, 2026 by Jon Awbrey

The dyadic components of sign relations have graph‑theoretic representations, as digraphs (or directed graphs), which provide concise pictures of their structural and potential dynamic properties. By way of terminology, a directed edge is called an arc from point to point … Continue reading →

Posted in C.S. Peirce, Connotation, Denotation, Inquiry, Logic, Logic of Relatives, Mathematics, Relation Theory, Semiosis, Semiotic Equivalence Relations, Semiotics, Sign Relations, Triadic Relations | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Sign Relations • Semiotic Equivalence Relations 2

Posted on December 31, 2025 by Jon Awbrey

A few items of notation are useful in discussing equivalence relations in general and semiotic equivalence relations in particular. In general, if is an equivalence relation on a set then every element of belongs to a unique equivalence class under … Continue reading →

Posted in C.S. Peirce, Connotation, Denotation, Inquiry, Logic, Logic of Relatives, Mathematics, Relation Theory, Semiosis, Semiotic Equivalence Relations, Semiotics, Sign Relations, Triadic Relations | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Sign Relations • Semiotic Equivalence Relations 1

Posted on December 30, 2025 by Jon Awbrey

A semiotic equivalence relation (SER) is a special type of equivalence relation arising in the analysis of sign relations.  Generally speaking, any equivalence relation induces a partition of the underlying set of elements, known as the domain or space of the … Continue reading →

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Sign Relations • Ennotation

Posted on December 29, 2025 by Jon Awbrey

A third aspect of a sign’s complete meaning concerns the relation between its objects and its interpretants, which has no standard name in semiotics.  It would be called an induced relation in graph theory or the result of relational composition … Continue reading →

Posted in C.S. Peirce, Connotation, Denotation, Inquiry, Logic, Logic of Relatives, Mathematics, Relation Theory, Semiosis, Semiotic Equivalence Relations, Semiotics, Sign Relations, Triadic Relations | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments