Category Archives: Philosophy

Information = Comprehension × Extension • Selection 1

Our first text comes from Peirce’s Lowell Lectures of 1866, titled “The Logic of Science, or, Induction and Hypothesis”.  I still remember the first time I read these words and the light that lit up the page and my mind. … 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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Information = Comprehension × Extension • Preamble

Eight summers ago I hit on what struck me as a new insight into one of the most recalcitrant problems in Peirce’s semiotics and logic of science, namely, the relation between “the manner in which different representations stand for their … 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 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Pragmatic Cosmos • 1

Re: Michael Harris • Not About Fibonacci I have often reflected on the interminglings of the main three normative sciences.  In one of my earliest meditations I saw Beauty, Goodness, and Truth as the intersecting circles of a Venn diagram, with the … Continue reading

Posted in Aesthetics, Anthem, Arete, Beauty, C.S. Peirce, Ethics, Knowledge, Logic, Mathematics, Normative Science, Pragmata, Pragmatic Cosmos, Pragmatism, Summum Bonum, Truth, Virtue | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Relations & Their Relatives • 4

From Dyadic to Triadic to Sign Relations Peirce’s notation for elementary relatives was illustrated earlier by a dyadic relation from number theory, namely, the relation written for Table 1 shows the first few ordered pairs of the relation on positive … Continue reading

Posted in C.S. Peirce, Category Theory, Dyadic Relations, Logic, Logic of Relatives, Logical Graphs, Mathematics, Nominalism, Peirce, Pragmatism, Realism, Relation Theory, Semiotics, Sign Relations, Triadic Relations, Visualization | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Relations & Their Relatives • 3

Here are two ways of looking at the divisibility relation, a dyadic relation of fundamental importance in number theory. Table 1 shows the first few ordered pairs of the relation on positive integers corresponding to the relative term, “divisor of”.  Thus, … Continue reading

Posted in C.S. Peirce, Category Theory, Dyadic Relations, Logic, Logic of Relatives, Logical Graphs, Mathematics, Nominalism, Peirce, Pragmatism, Realism, Relation Theory, Semiotics, Sign Relations, Triadic Relations, Visualization | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Relations & Their Relatives • 2

What is the relationship between “logical relatives” and “mathematical relations”?  The word relative used as a noun in logic is short for relative term — as such it refers to an item of language used to denote a formal object. … Continue reading

Posted in C.S. Peirce, Category Theory, Dyadic Relations, Logic, Logic of Relatives, Logical Graphs, Mathematics, Nominalism, Peirce, Pragmatism, Realism, Relation Theory, Semiotics, Sign Relations, Triadic Relations, Visualization | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Relations & Their Relatives • 1

Sign relations are special cases of triadic relations in much the same way binary operations in mathematics are special cases of triadic relations.  It amounts to a minor complication that we participate in sign relations whenever we talk or think … Continue reading

Posted in C.S. Peirce, Category Theory, Dyadic Relations, Logic, Logic of Relatives, Logical Graphs, Mathematics, Nominalism, Peirce, Pragmatism, Realism, Relation Theory, Semiotics, Sign Relations, Triadic Relations, Visualization | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Pragmatic Truth • 6

Peirce on Semiosis and Inquiry Peirce’s theory of truth depends on two other, intimately related subject matters, his theory of sign relations and his theory of inquiry.  Inquiry is special case of semiosis, a process passing from signs to signs while … Continue reading

Posted in Aristotle, C.S. Peirce, Coherence, Concordance, Congruence, Consensus, Convergence, Correspondence, Dewey, Fixation of Belief, Information, Inquiry, John Dewey, Kant, Logic, Logic of Science, Method, Peirce, Philosophy, Pragmatic Maxim, Pragmatism, Semiotics, Sign Relations, Triadic Relations, Truth, Truth Theory, William James | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Pragmatic Truth • 5

Peirce on Reality, Signs, Truth Very little in Peirce’s thought can be understood in its proper light without understanding he thinks all thoughts are signs, and thus, according to his theory of thought, no thought is understandable outside the context … Continue reading

Posted in Aristotle, C.S. Peirce, Coherence, Concordance, Congruence, Consensus, Convergence, Correspondence, Dewey, Fixation of Belief, Information, Inquiry, John Dewey, Kant, Logic, Logic of Science, Method, Peirce, Philosophy, Pragmatic Maxim, Pragmatism, Semiotics, Sign Relations, Triadic Relations, Truth, Truth Theory, William James | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Pragmatic Truth • Discussion 28

Re: Pragmatic Truth • Discussion • (26) • (27) Re: FB | Cybersemiotics • Richard Saunders RS: My intention was not to expand the correspondence theory of truth but to narrow it with specific constraints.  I think of it as … Continue reading

Posted in Aristotle, C.S. Peirce, Coherence, Concordance, Congruence, Consensus, Convergence, Correspondence, Dewey, Fixation of Belief, Information, Inquiry, John Dewey, Kant, Logic, Logic of Science, Method, Peirce, Philosophy, Pragmatic Maxim, Pragmatism, Semiotics, Sign Relations, Triadic Relations, Truth, Truth Theory, William James | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments