Logic as Semiotic: The Theory of Signs Charles Sanders Pierce

Timeline Born on 10 Sept 1839, Cambridge, Massachusetts At 12, read a standard book on logic by Bishop Richard Whately Began reading Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason at age 13 At 16, decided to devote his life to the study of and research in logic Received a graduate degree in chemistry from Harvard Published Photometric Researches, 1878 Published Studies in Logic, 1883 Died on 19 Apr 1914, Milford, Pennsylvania.

Preview Signs Icon Index Symbols Semiotics Definition Abstraction Object>Sign>Interpreter Three Divisions of Semiotics

Signs: Icon Represents its signified. Observer can derive information about its signified. Types of Icons Images: Similarity of aspect. Diagram: Represent relationships of parts rather than tangible features. Metaphors: Posses a similarity of character, representing an object by using parallelism in some other aspect.

Signs: Index Think of the word “indicate”. Indices are directly perceivable events that can act as a reference to events that are not directly perceivable, or in other words they are something visible that indicated something out of sight. Hyposeme: No actual connection (other than casual) with their object, such as first names, relative pronouns. Work like labels.

Signs: Symbol Represents something in a completely arbitrary relationship. Connection between signifier and signified depends entirely on the observer, or more exactly, what the observer was taught. Symbols are subjective, dictated either by social convention or by habit. Types of Symbols Singular symbol: Denotes tangible things Abstract symbol: Signifies abstract notions.

Semiotic: Definition “Semiotics is the investigation of apprehension, prediction and meaning; how it is that we apprehend the world, make predictions, and develop meaning.” “Logic is another name for semiotics”

Semiotic: Abstraction “… simplification of detail, wherein formerly concrete details are left ambiguous, vague, or undefined; thus speaking of things in the abstract demands that the listener have an intuitive or common experience with the speaker, if the speaker expects to be understood. Signs are abstractions.” Sign is not the object; a sign is perceptual data that refers to an object. “The sign can only represent the Object and tell about it. It cannot furnish acquaintance with or recognition of that Object; for that is what is meant in this volume by the Object of a Sign; namely, that with which it presupposes an acquaintance in order to convey some further information concerning it.”

Semiotic: Object-Sign-Interpreter Sign (representamen) Something which stands to somebody for something in some respect or capacity. It addresses somebody, that is, creates in the mind of that person an equivalent sign, or perhaps a more developed sign. Interpretant Stands for that object, not in all respects, but in reference to a sort of idea. A context for understanding a sign and what it stands for or represents. A potential or capacity to recognize meaningful distinctions. As a sign expresses an object or meaning, the interpretant is a sign in the mind of an interpreter. As one becomes conscious of signs, signs express a meaning. Ground Meaning is based upon an existing epistemological ground, the knowledge and experience that determine conduct. Communication is dependant on a capacity to perceive and interpret signs.

Semiotics: Three Divisions of Semiotics Three divisions of semiotics; different levels of cultural meanings. If any of these divisions of semeiotics is mistaken, there is a risk of missing the truth. Pure Grammar: The formal conditions for a sign to exit as an expression of communication, to stand for or represent something. Critical logic: The necessary conditions for a sign, an expression of communication such as a word, sound, or image, to represent an object or idea. Speculative Rhetoric: The formal conditions for one idea to generate another, and to convey meaning from one mind to another mind.