Whereas it is generally held that Peirce's logic contributed largely to a proof of his pragmatism... more Whereas it is generally held that Peirce's logic contributed largely to a proof of his pragmatism, particularly in the 1907 manuscript R318, the paper adopts an alternative approach and posits that after 1903, Peirce's conception of the sign and the way it functions evolved significantly in the period leading to and including the various versions of this never-to-be-published article which set out his conception of pragmatism in 1907. The paper suggests that in attempting to explain his pragmatism in manuscript R318, Peirce was consciously departing from earlier conceptions of the sign and the way it relates to its two correlates. It suggests that this departure nevertheless contributed to the continuing evolution of his logic, and shows how R318 anticipates features of the systems described in the 23 December 1908 letter to Lady Welby and subsequent drafts while nevertheless being a completely different approach to signification. It finally suggests that there is a potential inconsistency in the definition of semiosis given in the manuscript and the theoretical distribution of the interpretant system described therein. The present paper is offered as one possible account of some stages in the evolution of Peirce's logic.
In 1904, Peirce described to Lady Welby a six-division typology composed of the sign, two objects... more In 1904, Peirce described to Lady Welby a six-division typology composed of the sign, two objects, and a trio of interpretants for which he subsequently proposed numerous denominations. Of the three, the final interpretant was particularly problematic, and over the years Peirce experimented with at least eight different identifying terms such as "final," "rational," "normal," "eventual," etc. One group of interpretants is especially interesting as it only occurs in a single manuscript but has attracted considerable critical attention, namely the emotional, energetic, and logical interpretant series in a projected article of 1907. The paper examines the description of these, paying particular attention to the logical interpretant, and suggests how important aspects of the logic determining how Peirce defined them may have been neglected or ignored by researchers. It first shows how the group was presented, how the logical interpretant related to Peirce's purpose in the article, how it related to a restricted conception of the dynamic object in the manuscript, and explains through an analysis of its logical complications why Peirce was led to abandon it. These considerations suggest that much of the critical attention that the logical interpretant in particular has generated might be incomplete or, more seriously, nonsense.
Peirce's final statements on the sign were consigned in various ways over a hundred years ago as ... more Peirce's final statements on the sign were consigned in various ways over a hundred years ago as a form of logic, a branch of the science of enquiry based upon observation. This means inevitably that some parts of the theory will have been contested or considered superseded by more recent pronouncements on cognitive activity in general, both within and without the field of semiotics. Two such areas that have been host to innovative developments concern central preoccupations of the entire Peircean edifice: the basic unit of semiotics and its function, and ways of looking. First, following Thomas Sebeok's pioneering integration of semiotics and the biological theories of Jakob von Uexküll, biosemiotics, it is claimed, has espoused a Peircean approach to the definitions of sign and semiosis. Second, observation involves the relation between the observer and the object observed, and, as a theoretical consequence, the relation between an organism and its environment, von Uexküll's Umwelt. In view of the importance accorded Peircean semiotic theory in this more recent science, the paper compares and contrasts aspects of the later theory with the earlier, and concludes that there are significant theoretical differences between the two conceptions of the sign and its theoretical implications.
In the manuscript of the 1903 Syllabus intended to accompany his Lowell lectures on logic, Peirce... more In the manuscript of the 1903 Syllabus intended to accompany his Lowell lectures on logic, Peirce developed what is one of his best-known semiotic constructions, namely a ten-class, three-division typology of signs. The nine subdivisions in the typology define, amongst others, the icon-index-symbol division much used in visual semiotics and even
Establishing the correct order of trichotomies in Peirce’s projected ten-division typology of 190... more Establishing the correct order of trichotomies in Peirce’s projected ten-division typology of 1908 has been a preoccupation of Peirce scholars since at least 1945. Most seem to assume that the same phenomenological framework was adopted by Peirce in all his classification systems from 1903 to 1908 and that these ten divisions form a homogeneous set. The paper examines the status of typologies in Peirce’s semiotics and, by comparing two hexads of divisions from 1904 and 1908, shows how the theoretical framework of each was based upon entirely different principles.
The paper addresses the origins of Peirce’s innovative theory of the hypoicons from the Lowell Le... more The paper addresses the origins of Peirce’s innovative theory of the hypoicons from the Lowell Lectures of 1903, metaphor in particular, and seeks to justify Peirce’s definition of these by referring to his later, six-correlate theory of semiosis and the hexadic, 28-class typology it generated. After discussing Peirce’s apparent preference for metaphor over example as the realization of the third and most complex hypoicon, the paper goes on to substantiate in two ways the definition of metaphor as the representation in the sign of a parallelism in the structure of the object represented. First, it shows how the typology of 1908 accommodates the classification of a sign in relation to both dynamic and immediate objects more complex than itself. Second, by drawing on Peirce’s late conception of the object, it shows how the dynamic object can be formed from entities belonging to two or more different universes. At the same time, Peirce’s conception of signs and typologies is shown to e...
Shapiro, Michael/Haley, Michael (edd.): Peirce …, 1999
In this paper my concern is with the use made of Peircean concepts by linguists in their research... more In this paper my concern is with the use made of Peircean concepts by linguists in their research , specifically within the field of iconicity theory rather than in any general way. 1 In particular, I wish to examine the problem of theoretical orthodoxy, and to address the question of the extent to which a purportedly Peirce-inspired linguistics should adhere to the strictly Peircean tradition. With this in view, I first present a thumbnail history of the iconicity movement during the years 1965 to 1985, for it seems to me that the evolution discernible within the movement over these particular decades amply illustrates the issues at stake; I then review what I feel to be the most important aspects of Peirce's semiotics for iconicity theory; finally, I attempt to illustrate my position through an analysis of a fundamental division in the English verb phrase. My purpose will be to suggest that as practiced by its major exponents, iconicity theory has taken a singularly un-Peircean turn, and to show why it might benefit from a return to orthodoxy.
The paper summarizes six chapters of a book introducing Peircean visual semiotics to non-speciali... more The paper summarizes six chapters of a book introducing Peircean visual semiotics to non-specialists. The book has an epistemological bent, and is intended as an empiricist response to Saussurean rationalism, locked away as it is in the universe of Thirdness. Inevitably, in reducing two hundred and thirty pages to twenty-four, the paper has been shorn of the majority of the original examples, quotations and summaries, the relations between the various chapters (here sections) are not developed in detail and the general presentation is perforce allusive: for example, the dynamic object, surely one of Peirce’s most potent yet least understood concepts, has been simplified in what is, after all, an introductory text; similarly, acquaintance with his system of categories has largely been taken for granted. Finally, Simonides of Ceos’ epigram stating that a poem is a talking painting and a painting a mute poem gives the book its title and a major leitmotiv, namely the way we obtain infor...
In this paper my concern is with the use made of Peircean concepts by linguists in their research... more In this paper my concern is with the use made of Peircean concepts by linguists in their research , specifically within the field of iconicity theory rather than in any general way. 1 In particular, I wish to examine the problem of theoretical orthodoxy, and to address the question of the extent to which a purportedly Peirce-inspired linguistics should adhere to the strictly Peircean tradition. With this in view, I first present a thumbnail history of the iconicity movement during the years 1965 to 1985, for it seems to me that the evolution discernible within the movement over these particular decades amply illustrates the issues at stake; I then review what I feel to be the most important aspects of Peirce's semiotics for iconicity theory; finally, I attempt to illustrate my position through an analysis of a fundamental division in the English verb phrase. My purpose will be to suggest that as practiced by its major exponents, iconicity theory has taken a singularly un-Peircean turn, and to show why it might benefit from a return to orthodoxy.
Between 1865 and 1909 Peirce established over a dozen different sign taxonomies, most of which we... more Between 1865 and 1909 Peirce established over a dozen different sign taxonomies, most of which were established using his system of universal categories, Firstness, Secondness and Thirdness. Of these various systems, that of late 1903 with its universally-known icon-index-symbol division is the one most employed in the analysis of verbal and pictorial signs, as within this division the icon constitutes the sign's purely formal, qualitative mode of representation showing how a sign might resemble its object. Now, Peirce further analyzed the icon into three more basic modes of qualitative representation, namely the hypoicons, thus enabling "finer-grained" structural analyses of signs. However, in 1908 his conception of the way signs functioned developed into a very different, universe-based, six-stage system, namely semiosis, from which the icon-index-symbol division, together with the hypoicons, was absent. Since, in view of the theoretical foundations distinguishing the three-division system of 1903 from the intention-based hexadic system of 1908, it might be thought that Peirce had introduced an unresolvable inconsistency into the two conceptions of the sign, the paper discusses ways for Peircean semiotics to accommodate, in examples of principally figurative pictorial representation, both the potential for structural analysis offered by hypoiconicity and the intentionality of semiosis. In this latter case, the role of the sign's immediate object will be shown to be of considerable theoretical interest.
After examining the evolution of Peirce's changing conceptions of rhetoric in the period 1903-06 ... more After examining the evolution of Peirce's changing conceptions of rhetoric in the period 1903-06 the paper explores some of the implications of a 1904 paper on rhetoric and scientific writing and then examines the rhetorical potential of Peirce's definition of hexadic semiosis and the six-element classification system it generates with respect to a small corpus of photographic illustrations.
Durante un periodo de casi cuarenta años, la concepción de signo de Charles Sanders Peirce sufrió... more Durante un periodo de casi cuarenta años, la concepción de signo de Charles Sanders Peirce sufrió grandes cambios: desde 1867 hasta aproximadamente mediados de 1903, definió una única división o tricotomía de los signos; en 1903, un sistema de signos de tres divisiones y, en 1908, dos tipologías de seis y diez divisiones. De estas propuestas, el sistema de 1903, con la división ampliamente conocida de ícono, índice y símbolo, es el que más se emplea en el análisis de signos verbales y pictóricos. En esta división, el ícono constituye el modo de representación del signo, que Peirce, con base en el marco fenomenológico en el que se apoyó la signidad —signhood— en 1903, lo analizó con más detalle en tres modos distintos de representación, los hipoiconos. Sin embargo, en 1908, su concepción del signo-acción se transformó en un sistema procesual completamente diferente de seis etapas —semiosis—, en el que no se encontraba la división ícono, índice, símbolo. El presente artículo busca ilustrar, por medio del análisis de ejemplos de metáfora y alegoría, el interés por la discusión de ciertos tipos de representaciones pictóricas, de la teoría de la iconicidad. Dado que esta última no tiene forma de rastrear el signo hasta su origen o fuente, es decir, la intención que determinó su existencia, este artículo también pretende explicar la concepción última y procesual de los signos, pues esta también ha influido en la interpretación de la representación pictórica. Esta voluntad, o necesidad, requiere un análisis relativamente extenso de las etapas de desarrollo de la última teoría
It can safely be assumed that with its well-known icon-index-symbol trichotomy, Peirce's 1903 ten... more It can safely be assumed that with its well-known icon-index-symbol trichotomy, Peirce's 1903 ten-class typology can adequately analyze still images, photographs and films. Moreover, given the implication principle whereby a symbol can involve an index and an index an icon, it follows that any symbolic element can, by transitivity, involve iconic elements, making it possible within this system to accommodate complex forms of signification. Its phenomenological basis, however, and the nature of the divisions composing it make it less amenable to the analysis of intentionality in signs. Now, in 1908 Peirce introduced two far more complex typologies. The first, formed of six divisions from which the icon-index-symbol trichotomy is absent, generates twenty-eight classes of signs; the second, ten-division system, theoretically generates sixty-six. The exact order of the ten divisions forming the latter system is disputed, rendering the typology's semiotic viability uncertain, whereas the 28-class typology, which classifies signs not on how they represent their object but, amongst other things, according to the sorts of objects they represent, is fully operational. It is therefore of considerable semiotic interest to investigate the way this typology without icons, indices or symbols, might contribute to the analysis of image-based expressions of intentionality. The paper sets out the basic features of the ten-and 28-class systems, explores the semiotic potential of the latter for the analysis of image-based signs by examining the transmodal iconoclasm characteristic of the photomontages of Barbara Kruger and the films of Guy-Ernest Debord, and attempts in this way to establish the logical basis of their transgressive ideological motivation and commitment.
It can safely be assumed that with its well-known icon-index-symbol trichotomy, Peirce’s 1903 ten... more It can safely be assumed that with its well-known icon-index-symbol trichotomy, Peirce’s 1903 ten-class typology can adequately analyze still images, photographs and films. Moreover, given the implication principle whereby a symbol can involve an index and an index an icon, it follows that any symbolic element can, by transitivity, involve iconic elements, making it possible within this system to accommodate complex forms of signification. Its phenomenological basis, however, and the nature of the divisions composing it make it less amenable to the analysis of intentionality in signs. Now, in 1908 Peirce introduced two far more complex typologies. The first, formed of six divisions from which the icon-index-symbol trichotomy is absent, generates twenty-eight classes of signs; the second, ten-division system, theoretically generates sixty-six. The exact order of the ten divisions forming the latter system is disputed, rendering the typology’s semiotic viability uncertain, whereas the 28-class typology, which classifies signs not on how they represent their object but, amongst other things, according to the sorts of objects they represent, is fully operational. It is therefore of considerable semiotic interest to investigate the way this typology without icons, indices or symbols, might contribute to the analysis of image-based expressions of intentionality. The paper sets out the basic features of the ten- and 28-class systems, explores the semiotic potential of the latter for the analysis of image-based signs by examining the transmodal iconoclasm characteristic of the photomontages of Barbara Kruger and the films of Guy-Ernest Debord, and attempts in this way to establish the logical basis of their transgressive ideological motivation and commitment. Keywords: Peirce, intentionality, anti-ocularcentrism, iconoclasm, transmodality
On his own admission Peirce's priority in his work in semiotics concerned the identification of a... more On his own admission Peirce's priority in his work in semiotics concerned the identification of all possible signs, and it is clearly for this reason that of the two typologies announced in the letter to Lady Welby of 23 December 1908—one yielding twenty-eight classes and the other sixty-six— it was the latter that he found the more interesting, to the complete neglect of the former. And yet contributing to the originality of this particular typology is the fact that after 1906 Peirce appears no longer to employ his phaneroscopic categories as the criteria for establishing the various subdivisions in his classifications, preferring instead three modally organized universes, and, in the period from 1907 on, a growing appeal to the requirement of collateral observation of the object in definitions of the sign—both these factors being associated with a greater understanding of the nature of the dynamic object, particularly in the period 1908-1909. The paper thus seeks to demonstrate the potential for semiotic analysis of Peirce's neglected 28-class classification system by showing its originality within the fifteen or more typologies he developed between 1866 and 1908. This, it is to be hoped, will compensate for Peirce's neglect by showing how an examination of the evolving typologies sheds light on the development of his conception of signs and on the shift in the theoretical framework which underwrote it.
Il y a vingt ans, l'historien de l'art américain Craig Owens publiait en deux parties une étude v... more Il y a vingt ans, l'historien de l'art américain Craig Owens publiait en deux parties une étude visant à réhabiliter l'allégorie dans un contexte postmoderniste. Cette étude est devenue depuis un passage obligé de toute réflexion sur ce mode. S'inspirant très largement d'un texte de Walter Benjamin consacré au drame baroque allemand, Owens soutenait entre autres que l'allégorie est résolument tournée vers le passé avec, pour figures caractéristiques, la ruine isolée et la mélancolie et que sa structure spécifique peut se concevoir comme le « supplément » derridien.
S'appuyant sur deux séries de photographies allégoriques contemporaines, le présent article cherche à replacer certaines des thèses d'Owens dans un cadre sémiotique peircien en s'intéressant tout particulièrement à sa tentative de caractériser le mode par son contenu et à la thèse du passéisme mélancolique qui lui serait spécifique.
Whereas it is generally held that Peirce's logic contributed largely to a proof of his pragmatism... more Whereas it is generally held that Peirce's logic contributed largely to a proof of his pragmatism, particularly in the 1907 manuscript R318, the paper adopts an alternative approach and posits that after 1903, Peirce's conception of the sign and the way it functions evolved significantly in the period leading to and including the various versions of this never-to-be-published article which set out his conception of pragmatism in 1907. The paper suggests that in attempting to explain his pragmatism in manuscript R318, Peirce was consciously departing from earlier conceptions of the sign and the way it relates to its two correlates. It suggests that this departure nevertheless contributed to the continuing evolution of his logic, and shows how R318 anticipates features of the systems described in the 23 December 1908 letter to Lady Welby and subsequent drafts while nevertheless being a completely different approach to signification. It finally suggests that there is a potential inconsistency in the definition of semiosis given in the manuscript and the theoretical distribution of the interpretant system described therein. The present paper is offered as one possible account of some stages in the evolution of Peirce's logic.
In 1904, Peirce described to Lady Welby a six-division typology composed of the sign, two objects... more In 1904, Peirce described to Lady Welby a six-division typology composed of the sign, two objects, and a trio of interpretants for which he subsequently proposed numerous denominations. Of the three, the final interpretant was particularly problematic, and over the years Peirce experimented with at least eight different identifying terms such as "final," "rational," "normal," "eventual," etc. One group of interpretants is especially interesting as it only occurs in a single manuscript but has attracted considerable critical attention, namely the emotional, energetic, and logical interpretant series in a projected article of 1907. The paper examines the description of these, paying particular attention to the logical interpretant, and suggests how important aspects of the logic determining how Peirce defined them may have been neglected or ignored by researchers. It first shows how the group was presented, how the logical interpretant related to Peirce's purpose in the article, how it related to a restricted conception of the dynamic object in the manuscript, and explains through an analysis of its logical complications why Peirce was led to abandon it. These considerations suggest that much of the critical attention that the logical interpretant in particular has generated might be incomplete or, more seriously, nonsense.
Peirce's final statements on the sign were consigned in various ways over a hundred years ago as ... more Peirce's final statements on the sign were consigned in various ways over a hundred years ago as a form of logic, a branch of the science of enquiry based upon observation. This means inevitably that some parts of the theory will have been contested or considered superseded by more recent pronouncements on cognitive activity in general, both within and without the field of semiotics. Two such areas that have been host to innovative developments concern central preoccupations of the entire Peircean edifice: the basic unit of semiotics and its function, and ways of looking. First, following Thomas Sebeok's pioneering integration of semiotics and the biological theories of Jakob von Uexküll, biosemiotics, it is claimed, has espoused a Peircean approach to the definitions of sign and semiosis. Second, observation involves the relation between the observer and the object observed, and, as a theoretical consequence, the relation between an organism and its environment, von Uexküll's Umwelt. In view of the importance accorded Peircean semiotic theory in this more recent science, the paper compares and contrasts aspects of the later theory with the earlier, and concludes that there are significant theoretical differences between the two conceptions of the sign and its theoretical implications.
In the manuscript of the 1903 Syllabus intended to accompany his Lowell lectures on logic, Peirce... more In the manuscript of the 1903 Syllabus intended to accompany his Lowell lectures on logic, Peirce developed what is one of his best-known semiotic constructions, namely a ten-class, three-division typology of signs. The nine subdivisions in the typology define, amongst others, the icon-index-symbol division much used in visual semiotics and even
Establishing the correct order of trichotomies in Peirce’s projected ten-division typology of 190... more Establishing the correct order of trichotomies in Peirce’s projected ten-division typology of 1908 has been a preoccupation of Peirce scholars since at least 1945. Most seem to assume that the same phenomenological framework was adopted by Peirce in all his classification systems from 1903 to 1908 and that these ten divisions form a homogeneous set. The paper examines the status of typologies in Peirce’s semiotics and, by comparing two hexads of divisions from 1904 and 1908, shows how the theoretical framework of each was based upon entirely different principles.
The paper addresses the origins of Peirce’s innovative theory of the hypoicons from the Lowell Le... more The paper addresses the origins of Peirce’s innovative theory of the hypoicons from the Lowell Lectures of 1903, metaphor in particular, and seeks to justify Peirce’s definition of these by referring to his later, six-correlate theory of semiosis and the hexadic, 28-class typology it generated. After discussing Peirce’s apparent preference for metaphor over example as the realization of the third and most complex hypoicon, the paper goes on to substantiate in two ways the definition of metaphor as the representation in the sign of a parallelism in the structure of the object represented. First, it shows how the typology of 1908 accommodates the classification of a sign in relation to both dynamic and immediate objects more complex than itself. Second, by drawing on Peirce’s late conception of the object, it shows how the dynamic object can be formed from entities belonging to two or more different universes. At the same time, Peirce’s conception of signs and typologies is shown to e...
Shapiro, Michael/Haley, Michael (edd.): Peirce …, 1999
In this paper my concern is with the use made of Peircean concepts by linguists in their research... more In this paper my concern is with the use made of Peircean concepts by linguists in their research , specifically within the field of iconicity theory rather than in any general way. 1 In particular, I wish to examine the problem of theoretical orthodoxy, and to address the question of the extent to which a purportedly Peirce-inspired linguistics should adhere to the strictly Peircean tradition. With this in view, I first present a thumbnail history of the iconicity movement during the years 1965 to 1985, for it seems to me that the evolution discernible within the movement over these particular decades amply illustrates the issues at stake; I then review what I feel to be the most important aspects of Peirce's semiotics for iconicity theory; finally, I attempt to illustrate my position through an analysis of a fundamental division in the English verb phrase. My purpose will be to suggest that as practiced by its major exponents, iconicity theory has taken a singularly un-Peircean turn, and to show why it might benefit from a return to orthodoxy.
The paper summarizes six chapters of a book introducing Peircean visual semiotics to non-speciali... more The paper summarizes six chapters of a book introducing Peircean visual semiotics to non-specialists. The book has an epistemological bent, and is intended as an empiricist response to Saussurean rationalism, locked away as it is in the universe of Thirdness. Inevitably, in reducing two hundred and thirty pages to twenty-four, the paper has been shorn of the majority of the original examples, quotations and summaries, the relations between the various chapters (here sections) are not developed in detail and the general presentation is perforce allusive: for example, the dynamic object, surely one of Peirce’s most potent yet least understood concepts, has been simplified in what is, after all, an introductory text; similarly, acquaintance with his system of categories has largely been taken for granted. Finally, Simonides of Ceos’ epigram stating that a poem is a talking painting and a painting a mute poem gives the book its title and a major leitmotiv, namely the way we obtain infor...
In this paper my concern is with the use made of Peircean concepts by linguists in their research... more In this paper my concern is with the use made of Peircean concepts by linguists in their research , specifically within the field of iconicity theory rather than in any general way. 1 In particular, I wish to examine the problem of theoretical orthodoxy, and to address the question of the extent to which a purportedly Peirce-inspired linguistics should adhere to the strictly Peircean tradition. With this in view, I first present a thumbnail history of the iconicity movement during the years 1965 to 1985, for it seems to me that the evolution discernible within the movement over these particular decades amply illustrates the issues at stake; I then review what I feel to be the most important aspects of Peirce's semiotics for iconicity theory; finally, I attempt to illustrate my position through an analysis of a fundamental division in the English verb phrase. My purpose will be to suggest that as practiced by its major exponents, iconicity theory has taken a singularly un-Peircean turn, and to show why it might benefit from a return to orthodoxy.
Between 1865 and 1909 Peirce established over a dozen different sign taxonomies, most of which we... more Between 1865 and 1909 Peirce established over a dozen different sign taxonomies, most of which were established using his system of universal categories, Firstness, Secondness and Thirdness. Of these various systems, that of late 1903 with its universally-known icon-index-symbol division is the one most employed in the analysis of verbal and pictorial signs, as within this division the icon constitutes the sign's purely formal, qualitative mode of representation showing how a sign might resemble its object. Now, Peirce further analyzed the icon into three more basic modes of qualitative representation, namely the hypoicons, thus enabling "finer-grained" structural analyses of signs. However, in 1908 his conception of the way signs functioned developed into a very different, universe-based, six-stage system, namely semiosis, from which the icon-index-symbol division, together with the hypoicons, was absent. Since, in view of the theoretical foundations distinguishing the three-division system of 1903 from the intention-based hexadic system of 1908, it might be thought that Peirce had introduced an unresolvable inconsistency into the two conceptions of the sign, the paper discusses ways for Peircean semiotics to accommodate, in examples of principally figurative pictorial representation, both the potential for structural analysis offered by hypoiconicity and the intentionality of semiosis. In this latter case, the role of the sign's immediate object will be shown to be of considerable theoretical interest.
After examining the evolution of Peirce's changing conceptions of rhetoric in the period 1903-06 ... more After examining the evolution of Peirce's changing conceptions of rhetoric in the period 1903-06 the paper explores some of the implications of a 1904 paper on rhetoric and scientific writing and then examines the rhetorical potential of Peirce's definition of hexadic semiosis and the six-element classification system it generates with respect to a small corpus of photographic illustrations.
Durante un periodo de casi cuarenta años, la concepción de signo de Charles Sanders Peirce sufrió... more Durante un periodo de casi cuarenta años, la concepción de signo de Charles Sanders Peirce sufrió grandes cambios: desde 1867 hasta aproximadamente mediados de 1903, definió una única división o tricotomía de los signos; en 1903, un sistema de signos de tres divisiones y, en 1908, dos tipologías de seis y diez divisiones. De estas propuestas, el sistema de 1903, con la división ampliamente conocida de ícono, índice y símbolo, es el que más se emplea en el análisis de signos verbales y pictóricos. En esta división, el ícono constituye el modo de representación del signo, que Peirce, con base en el marco fenomenológico en el que se apoyó la signidad —signhood— en 1903, lo analizó con más detalle en tres modos distintos de representación, los hipoiconos. Sin embargo, en 1908, su concepción del signo-acción se transformó en un sistema procesual completamente diferente de seis etapas —semiosis—, en el que no se encontraba la división ícono, índice, símbolo. El presente artículo busca ilustrar, por medio del análisis de ejemplos de metáfora y alegoría, el interés por la discusión de ciertos tipos de representaciones pictóricas, de la teoría de la iconicidad. Dado que esta última no tiene forma de rastrear el signo hasta su origen o fuente, es decir, la intención que determinó su existencia, este artículo también pretende explicar la concepción última y procesual de los signos, pues esta también ha influido en la interpretación de la representación pictórica. Esta voluntad, o necesidad, requiere un análisis relativamente extenso de las etapas de desarrollo de la última teoría
It can safely be assumed that with its well-known icon-index-symbol trichotomy, Peirce's 1903 ten... more It can safely be assumed that with its well-known icon-index-symbol trichotomy, Peirce's 1903 ten-class typology can adequately analyze still images, photographs and films. Moreover, given the implication principle whereby a symbol can involve an index and an index an icon, it follows that any symbolic element can, by transitivity, involve iconic elements, making it possible within this system to accommodate complex forms of signification. Its phenomenological basis, however, and the nature of the divisions composing it make it less amenable to the analysis of intentionality in signs. Now, in 1908 Peirce introduced two far more complex typologies. The first, formed of six divisions from which the icon-index-symbol trichotomy is absent, generates twenty-eight classes of signs; the second, ten-division system, theoretically generates sixty-six. The exact order of the ten divisions forming the latter system is disputed, rendering the typology's semiotic viability uncertain, whereas the 28-class typology, which classifies signs not on how they represent their object but, amongst other things, according to the sorts of objects they represent, is fully operational. It is therefore of considerable semiotic interest to investigate the way this typology without icons, indices or symbols, might contribute to the analysis of image-based expressions of intentionality. The paper sets out the basic features of the ten-and 28-class systems, explores the semiotic potential of the latter for the analysis of image-based signs by examining the transmodal iconoclasm characteristic of the photomontages of Barbara Kruger and the films of Guy-Ernest Debord, and attempts in this way to establish the logical basis of their transgressive ideological motivation and commitment.
It can safely be assumed that with its well-known icon-index-symbol trichotomy, Peirce’s 1903 ten... more It can safely be assumed that with its well-known icon-index-symbol trichotomy, Peirce’s 1903 ten-class typology can adequately analyze still images, photographs and films. Moreover, given the implication principle whereby a symbol can involve an index and an index an icon, it follows that any symbolic element can, by transitivity, involve iconic elements, making it possible within this system to accommodate complex forms of signification. Its phenomenological basis, however, and the nature of the divisions composing it make it less amenable to the analysis of intentionality in signs. Now, in 1908 Peirce introduced two far more complex typologies. The first, formed of six divisions from which the icon-index-symbol trichotomy is absent, generates twenty-eight classes of signs; the second, ten-division system, theoretically generates sixty-six. The exact order of the ten divisions forming the latter system is disputed, rendering the typology’s semiotic viability uncertain, whereas the 28-class typology, which classifies signs not on how they represent their object but, amongst other things, according to the sorts of objects they represent, is fully operational. It is therefore of considerable semiotic interest to investigate the way this typology without icons, indices or symbols, might contribute to the analysis of image-based expressions of intentionality. The paper sets out the basic features of the ten- and 28-class systems, explores the semiotic potential of the latter for the analysis of image-based signs by examining the transmodal iconoclasm characteristic of the photomontages of Barbara Kruger and the films of Guy-Ernest Debord, and attempts in this way to establish the logical basis of their transgressive ideological motivation and commitment. Keywords: Peirce, intentionality, anti-ocularcentrism, iconoclasm, transmodality
On his own admission Peirce's priority in his work in semiotics concerned the identification of a... more On his own admission Peirce's priority in his work in semiotics concerned the identification of all possible signs, and it is clearly for this reason that of the two typologies announced in the letter to Lady Welby of 23 December 1908—one yielding twenty-eight classes and the other sixty-six— it was the latter that he found the more interesting, to the complete neglect of the former. And yet contributing to the originality of this particular typology is the fact that after 1906 Peirce appears no longer to employ his phaneroscopic categories as the criteria for establishing the various subdivisions in his classifications, preferring instead three modally organized universes, and, in the period from 1907 on, a growing appeal to the requirement of collateral observation of the object in definitions of the sign—both these factors being associated with a greater understanding of the nature of the dynamic object, particularly in the period 1908-1909. The paper thus seeks to demonstrate the potential for semiotic analysis of Peirce's neglected 28-class classification system by showing its originality within the fifteen or more typologies he developed between 1866 and 1908. This, it is to be hoped, will compensate for Peirce's neglect by showing how an examination of the evolving typologies sheds light on the development of his conception of signs and on the shift in the theoretical framework which underwrote it.
Il y a vingt ans, l'historien de l'art américain Craig Owens publiait en deux parties une étude v... more Il y a vingt ans, l'historien de l'art américain Craig Owens publiait en deux parties une étude visant à réhabiliter l'allégorie dans un contexte postmoderniste. Cette étude est devenue depuis un passage obligé de toute réflexion sur ce mode. S'inspirant très largement d'un texte de Walter Benjamin consacré au drame baroque allemand, Owens soutenait entre autres que l'allégorie est résolument tournée vers le passé avec, pour figures caractéristiques, la ruine isolée et la mélancolie et que sa structure spécifique peut se concevoir comme le « supplément » derridien.
S'appuyant sur deux séries de photographies allégoriques contemporaines, le présent article cherche à replacer certaines des thèses d'Owens dans un cadre sémiotique peircien en s'intéressant tout particulièrement à sa tentative de caractériser le mode par son contenu et à la thèse du passéisme mélancolique qui lui serait spécifique.
David Rohr, of Boston University, has written a highly critical review of my book, Peirce’s Twent... more David Rohr, of Boston University, has written a highly critical review of my book, Peirce’s Twenty-Eight Classes of Signs and the Philosophy of Representation: Rhetoric, Interpretation and Hexadic Semiosis, from Bloomsbury’s Advances in Semiotics series. As a rebuttal of each of his charges would require a text twice as long as the review, in this reply I shall simply comment at length upon a number of the more damaging criticisms after having referred briefly to a number of others of a similar vein. This will give the reader a good idea of the rather uneven grasp Rohr has of Peircean semiotics, and, at the same time, show that Rohr, willfully or otherwise, has misrepresented, misinterpreted, or simply misread my book.
Two Peircean approaches to the image: hypoiconicity and semiosis Abstract Over a period of roughl... more Two Peircean approaches to the image: hypoiconicity and semiosis Abstract Over a period of roughly forty years Peirce's conception of signs underwent profound modifications. He defined a single division or trichotomy of signs from 1867 to, approximately, mid-1903, a three-division sign-system late in 1903, and in 1908 a pair of six-and ten-division typologies. Of these, the 1903 system with its universally-known icon-index-symbol division is the one most employed in the analysis of verbal and pictorial signs. Within this division, the icon constitutes the sign's qualitative mode of representation, which Peirce, on the basis of the phenomenological framework within which signhood was based in 1903, further analyzed the icon into three distinct qualitative modes of representation, the hypoicons. However, in 1908 his conception of sign-action developed into a completely different universe-based, six-stage processual system-semiosis-from which the icon-index-symbol division was absent. The paper therefore seeks to illustrate, through an analysis of examples of metaphor and allegory, the interest for the discussion of certain types of pictorial representations, of the theory of iconicity. Since this theory has no means of tracing the sign to it origin, or source, namely the intention which determined it to existence, the paper also seeks to illustrate the later, processual conception of signs, since this, too, has bearing on the interpretation of pictorial representation. This will, of necessity, require a relatively lengthy review of the stages in the development of the later theory. 1. Introduction The paper examines the way Peircean semiotics accommodates the sort of intention and purpose to be found in classes of signs with a no less intentional nature than advertising, namely pictorial signs presenting the differing structures of metaphor and allegory. Unlike the Course in General Linguistics (Saussure [1916] 1972), which, although drawing from course notes taken over a period of six years and involving important revisions in the final course, presents a relatively homogeneous set of concepts that came to found European semiology, Peirce's theory of semiotics, which he considered as a form of logic, evolved over a period of more than 40 years. Consequently, there is no similarly homogeneous set of concepts for Peirce scholars to draw upon. In what follows, then, the paper attempts to bring out the major theoretical differences between two of Peirce's later versions of this logic, and to show how the second is in an important way as appropriate for the analysis of the very deliberate, intentional nature of pictorial creation as the first is for their structural analysis. The two versions in question are the ten-class triadic system conceived by Peirce for the Lowell Lectures on Logic of 1903 in which he defined the hypoicons, and the 28-class hexadic system described in the letter to Lady Welby dated 23 December 1908 (EP2 478-481), which, without an icon-index-symbol trichotomy, has no provision at all for structural analysis.
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Papers by Tony Jappy
Keywords: Peirce, intentionality, anti-ocularcentrism, iconoclasm, transmodality
S'appuyant sur deux séries de photographies allégoriques contemporaines, le présent article cherche à replacer certaines des thèses d'Owens dans un cadre sémiotique peircien en s'intéressant tout particulièrement à sa tentative de caractériser le mode par son contenu et à la thèse du passéisme mélancolique qui lui serait spécifique.
Keywords: Peirce, intentionality, anti-ocularcentrism, iconoclasm, transmodality
S'appuyant sur deux séries de photographies allégoriques contemporaines, le présent article cherche à replacer certaines des thèses d'Owens dans un cadre sémiotique peircien en s'intéressant tout particulièrement à sa tentative de caractériser le mode par son contenu et à la thèse du passéisme mélancolique qui lui serait spécifique.