Abstract
It is suggested that Charles Sanders Peirce's triadic semiotics provides a framework for a diagrammatic representation of a sign's proper structure. The action of signs is described at the logical and psychological levels. The role of (unconscious) abductive inference is analyzed, and a diagram of reasoning is offered. A series of interpretants transform brute facts into interpretable signs thereby providing human experience with value or meaning. The triadic structure helps in de-mystifying the relations between Penrose's three worlds when the latter are considered as constituting a semiotic triangle.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
M Bickhard (2004) ArticleTitleProcess and Emergence: Normative Function and Representation Axiomathes 14 121–155 Occurrence Handle10.1023/B:AXIO.0000006791.23077.b1
J. Bigelow R. Pargetter (1999) ‘Functions’ J. Buler David (Eds) Function, Selection and Design SUNY Press Albany 97–114
J. Deely (2001) Four Ages of Understanding: The First Postmodern Survey of Philosophy from Ancient Times to the Turn of the Twenty-first Century University of Toronto Press Toronto
M. Greaves (2002) The Philosophical Status of Diagrams Center for the Study of Languages and Information Publications Stanford, US
R. Grush S. Churchland Patricia (1995) ArticleTitleGaps in Penrose’s Toilings Journal of Consciousness Studies 2 10–29
I. Hacking (1990) The Taming of Chance Cambridge University Press Cambridge, UK
Hoffmeyer, J.: 1993, Signs of Meaning in the Universe, trans by. Barbara J. Haveland. Bloomington & Indianopolis: Indiana University Press
A. Juarrero (1999) Dynamics in Action: Intentional Behavior as a Complex System The MIT Press Cambridge, MA
Kihlstrom, J. F.: 1993, ‘The Rediscovery of the Unconscious’, in Harold J. Morowitz and Jerome L. Singer (eds.), The Mind, The Brain, and Complex Adaptive Systems, Proceedings Volume XXII, Santa Fe Institute, Studies in the Sciences of Complexity. Reading: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company (=The Advanced Book Program), pp. 123–143
L. Magnani (2001) Abduction, Reason, and Science: Processes of Discovery and Explanation Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers Dordrecht
R. Millikan (1984) Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories MIT Press Cambridge MA
R. Millikan (1999) Proper functions Buler David J. (Eds) Function, Selection and Design SUNY Press Albany 85–96
Peirce, C. S.: 1860–1911, Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, vol. I- VI, C. Hawthorn and P. Weiss (eds.). Cambridge: Harvard University Press
Peirce, C. S.: 1955, Philosophical Writings of Peirce, J. Buchler (ed.). New York: Dover Publications
Peirce, C. S.: 1998, The Essential Peirce: Selected philosophical writings, vol. 2 (19893–1913). (Peirce Edition Project, eds.) Bloomington: Indiana University Press
R., Penrose A. Shimony N. Cartwright S. Hawking (1999) The Large, the Small, and the Human Mind Cambridge University Press UK
N. Rescher (2000) Realistic Pragmatism: An Introduction to Pragmatic Philosophy State University of New York Press Albany
W. Seager (1999) Theories of Consciousness: An Introduction and Assessment Routledge London and New York
Seibt, J.: ‘General Process Theory: A Descriptive Framework for Dynamic Ontologies’, paper delivered at the conference Dynamic Ontology: An Inquiry into Systems, Emergence, Levels of Reality, and Forms of Causality, University of Trento, Italy, September 7–11, 2004
I. Semetsky (2000) The End of a Semiotic Fallacy. SEMIOTICA 130, 3/4. Mouton de Gruyter Berlin, New York 283–300
Semetsky, I.: 2003, ‘The Magician’s Autopoietic action, or Eros Contained and Uncontained’, Trickster’s Way, vol. 2, http://www.trinity.edu/org/tricksters/TrixWay/current/Vol%202/Vol23/semetsky.html
I. Semetsky (2004) ArticleTitle'The Role of Intuition in Thinking and Learning: Deleuze and the Pragmatic Legacy' Educational Philosophy and Theory 36 IssueID4 433–454 Occurrence Handle10.1111/j.1469-5812.2004.00079.x
Shimony, A.: 1993, Search for a Naturalistic World View, vol. II, Cambridge University Press
R. Thom (1985) ‘From the Icon to the Symbol’ Robert E. Innis (Eds) SEMIOTICS: An Introductory Anthology Indiana University Press Bloomington 275–291
Additional information
Conference “Dynamic Ontology: An Inquiry into Systems, Emergence, Levels of Reality, and Forms of Causality” University of Trento, Italy, September 7–11, 2004.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Semetsky, I. From Design to Self-organization, or: A Proper Structure for a Proper Function. Axiomathes 15, 575–597 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10516-005-2780-6
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10516-005-2780-6