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Table 6.8 The classification of signs based on the dual trichotomies - (1) the ontological/material
trichotomy (OT) ( first row ), and (2) the phenomenological/formal (PT) trichotomy ( first column )
(Ji 2002c)
OT
PT
Firstness (Potentiality)
Secondness (Facts)
Thirdness (Law)
Qualisign
Sinsign
Legisign
Firstness (Sign)
Secondness (Object)
Icon
Index
Symbol
Thirdness (Interpretant)
Rheme
Dicent Sign
Argument
Such a view is frequently referred to as “glossocentric” or “language-centered.” But
the concept of signs according to Peirce is much more general and includes not only
linguistic symbols, but also icons (e.g., portraits, statutes, maps, electronic circuit
diagrams), and indexes (e.g., smokes, laughter, fever, weathervane). The generality
of signs is, in part, due to the fact that we think in signs. As someone said: Think of
an elephant; do you have an elephant in your head? The neuronal firing patterns
associated with our thoughts are signs representing their objects, whatever they may
be, because neuronal firing patterns are not identical with the objects that they stand
for. Peirce divides signs into a total of nine classes (Buchler 1955):
Signs are divisible by three trichotomies; first, according as the sign itself is a mere quality
[“qualisign”], is an actual existent [“sinsign”], or is a general law [“legisign”; secondly,
according as the relation of the sign to its object consists in the sign's having some character
in itself ('icon'), or in some existential relation to the object [“index”], or in its relation to an
interpretant [“symbol”]; thirdly, according as its interpretant represents it as a sign of
possibility [“rheme”] or as a sign of fact [“dicent sign”] or a sign of reason [“argument”].
(6.23)
The term “interpretant” here can be understood as the effect that a sign has on the
mind of an interpreter, or as “meaning,” “significance,” or “more advanced sign.”
The above classification of signs by Peirce is summarized in Table 6.8 .
Each of the nine types of signs appearing in the interior of Table 6.8 has dual
aspects (reminiscent of the wave/particle duality of light) - (1) the ontological (or
material ) aspect and (2) the phenomenological (or formal ) aspects, which appear on
the margins of the table. The ontological/material aspect of a sign can be identified
with energy/matter properties, while the phenomenological/formal aspect with
informational properties. It is for this reason that the Peircean signs located in the
interior of Table 6.8 can be viewed as examples of gnergons , the discrete units of
gnergy postulated to be the ultimate cause of, or ground for, all self-organizing (or
pattern-forming) processes in the Universe (Ji 1991, 1995). Since all sign processes
(semiosis) can be viewed as species of self-organizing processes, ultimately driven
by the free energy of exergonic chemical reactions (e.g., ATP hydrolysis or oxida-
tion of NADH) or physical processes (e.g., heat flow, solar radiation, the Big Bang,
etc.), it would follow that gnergons are the ultimate causes of semiosis (Ji 1995,
2002c) consistent with Fig. 4.8 .
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