The Relevance of the Concept of Relation in Peirce

Abstract

In this paper I present my reading of Peirce’s concept of relation, which hinges upon the following main issues:

• 1) The concept of relation acts as a guide through the innumerable logico-semeiotic or philosophical notions that he evolved, and provides an essential link between the various parts of his work and, in particular, hislogic, semeiotic, and phaneroscopy.

• 2) When we have identified the characteristic elements of the concept of relation, we can reach a true understanding of what “logic” meant to Peirce and envisage the propositional logical order that he favored. We can thus capture the particular character of his work and see how it differs from that of the logicians who came after him and who did not always, in my view, grasp what he was driving at.

• 3) This leads straight to the theme of notation, or, more specifically, to the problem of Existential Graphs, a new graphical system designed, as I see it, to give form to the new logic of relations.