A Philosophical Commentary on Cs Peirce's “On a New List
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The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of the Liberal Arts A PHILOSOPHICAL COMMENTARY ON C. S. PEIRCE'S \ON A NEW LIST OF CATEGORIES": EXHIBITING LOGICAL STRUCTURE AND ABIDING RELEVANCE A Dissertation in Philosophy by Masato Ishida °c 2009 Masato Ishida Submitted in Partial Ful¯lment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2009 The dissertation of Masato Ishida was reviewed and approved¤ by the following: Vincent M. Colapietro Professor of Philosophy Dissertation Advisor Chair of Committee Dennis Schmidt Professor of Philosophy Christopher P. Long Associate Professor of Philosophy Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Philosophy Stephen G. Simpson Professor of Mathematics ¤ Signatures are on ¯le in the Graduate School. ii ABSTRACT This dissertation focuses on C. S. Peirce's relatively early paper \On a New List of Categories"(1867). The entire dissertation is devoted to an extensive and in-depth analysis of this single paper in the form of commentary. All ¯fteen sections of the New List are examined. Rather than considering the textual genesis of the New List, or situating the work narrowly in the early philosophy of Peirce, as previous scholarship has done, this work pursues the genuine philosophical content of the New List, while paying attention to the later philosophy of Peirce as well. Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason is also taken into serious account, to which Peirce contrasted his new theory of categories. iii Table of Contents List of Figures . ix Acknowledgements . xi General Introduction 1 The Subject of the Dissertation . 1 Features of the Dissertation . 1 Interpretive Orientation . 2 The Structure of the Dissertation . 4 I Analysis of the Framework 6 1 New List x1-x4 7 1.1 Introduction . 7 1.1.1 The \Gift I Make to the World" . 7 1.1.2 The Structure of the New List ................... 8 1.2 The Standpoint and Task of the New List . 10 1.2.1 The Standpoint of the New List(x1) . 10 1.2.2 The Task of the New List (x2) . 11 1.3 Substance: The Last Conception (x3) . 13 1.3.1 Two Directions of Analysis . 13 1.3.2 The Present in General . 13 1.3.3 Substance and Phenomenalism . 14 1.4 Being: The First Conception (x4) . 16 1.4.1 Being as Copula: No Content . 16 1.4.2 Being and Substance: The Genetic and Logical Standpoints . 17 1.4.3 Example: \The Stove is Black." . 18 1.4.3.1 Peirce's Text . 18 1.4.3.2 Uni¯cation, Di®erentiation, and Reuni¯cation . 19 1.4.3.3 `Analysis' of the Synthetic Process . 20 2 New List x5 and x6 21 2.1 The Method of Derivation: Prescision (x5) . 21 2.1.1 Overview of the Idea . 21 iv 2.1.2 De¯nition of Prescision . 22 2.1.2.1 Peirce's Text . 22 2.1.2.2 Our De¯nition . 23 2.1.3 Three Modes of Separation . 24 2.1.4 Examples of Prescision . 26 2.1.5 Further Details of Non-reciprocity . 28 2.1.5.1 The Next Concern . 28 2.1.5.2 Argument for (1) . 28 2.1.5.3 Argument for (2) . 29 2.1.5.4 A Summary Remark on Non-reciprocity . 30 2.2 The Unpsychological View of Logic (x6) . 30 2.2.1 Prescision and Introspection . 30 2.2.2 Peirce and Kant on Logic . 32 2.2.3 Genetic Model and Logical Analysis . 33 II The Derivation of Categories 36 3 New List x7-x8 37 3.1 Quality: Reference to a Ground (x7) . 37 3.1.1 Quality in the Widest Sense . 37 3.1.2 The Subject-Predicate Asymmetry . 38 3.1.3 Quality and Ground . 39 3.1.3.1 Ground as Pure Abstraction . 39 3.1.3.2 Some Contexts for the Notion of Ground . 40 3.1.3.3 The Need for Ground (1): Genetic Viewpoint . 41 3.1.3.4 The Need for Ground (2): Logical Viewpoint . 44 3.1.4 Hypothetical Application of the Predicate . 44 3.1.5 `Embodying Blackness' and `Black' . 45 3.1.6 Functionalism and Pragmatism in the New List . 46 3.1.7 Passing from Being to Quality . 47 3.1.8 Challenging Kantian Assumptions . 48 3.2 Relation: Reference to a Correlate (x8) . 49 3.2.1 Overview: Correlate in the New List . 49 3.2.1.1 The Basic Idea . 49 3.2.1.2 Kantian Analogue . 49 3.2.1.3 Peirce's Later Remark (1908) . 50 3.2.2 Peirce's Text of x8.......................... 51 3.2.3 Further Details of Correlate . 51 3.2.3.1 Similarity and Agreement . 51 3.2.3.2 The Subtlety of Correlate . 52 3.2.3.3 Stream of Correlates . 53 3.2.3.4 Comparison and Contrast . 54 v 3.2.4 Important Implication . 55 3.2.5 The Problem of Secondness . 57 3.2.6 From Quality to Relation . 58 4 New List x9-x13 60 4.1 Representation: Reference to an Interpretant (x9) . 60 4.1.1 Example 1: Comparison of `p' and `b' . 60 4.1.2 Example 2: Murderer and the Murdered . 61 4.1.3 Example 3: `Homme' and `Man' . 62 4.1.4 Generalization to `Representation' . 62 4.1.5 The Last Two Paragraphs of x9................... 63 4.2 Characterizing Representation Further (x10) . 64 4.3 The New List of Categories (x11) . 65 4.3.1 Summary of Argument . 65 4.3.2 The Elusiveness of the Categories . 66 4.3.3 The List Presented . 67 4.4 On the Order of Categories (x12) . 67 4.5 Possible Ontology (x13) . 69 III New List and Semeiotics 71 5 The Theory of Signs 72 5.1 Basic Characterization of Sign . 72 5.1.1 Sign as Part of the Relate: De¯nition 1 (1904) . 72 5.1.2 De¯nition 1 in Light of the New List . 73 5.1.3 Signs and Physical Objects . 74 5.2 The Working of Sign . 74 5.2.1 Sign at Work: De¯nition 2 (1911) . 74 5.2.2 De¯nition 2 in Light of the New List . 75 5.3 Sign in the Triadic Relation . 76 5.3.1 Sign as `a First': De¯nition 3 (1903) . 76 5.3.2 Sign as the `First Correlate': De¯nition 4 . 76 5.3.3 De¯nition 3 and 4 in Light of the New List . 77 5.4 The Object of Sign . 80 5.4.1 Originals of the Sign: De¯nition 5 (c.1907-1911) . 80 5.4.2 De¯nition 5 in Light of the New List . 81 5.5 The Plurality of Objects and the Logic of Relatives . 81 5.5.1 Relational Predicates . 81 5.5.2 Relations and the Object-Complex . 82 vi 6 New List x14 84 6.1 A Problem: Sign and Causation . 84 6.2 Di®erentiating Index from Icon . 85 6.2.1 Peirce's Text . 86 6.2.2 The Idea of the Argument . 87 6.2.3 The Concept of Index . 88 6.2.4 The Concept of Icon . 88 6.2.5 Peirce's Explanation of Icon and Index . 89 6.2.6 Prescision De¯nes Icon and Index . 90 6.2.7 Causal and Non-causal Relations . 90 6.3 The Derivation of Symbol . 91 6.3.1 Peirce's Text . 91 6.3.2 The Idea of the Argument . 92 6.3.3 The Nature of Symbol . 93 6.3.3.1 Symbol and the Prescision Relation . 93 6.3.3.2 Intuitive Illustration of Symbol . 94 6.4 Further Characterizations of Icon, Index, and Symbol . 96 6.4.1 Characterization of Icon . 96 6.4.2 Characterization of Index . 98 6.4.3 Characterization of Symbol . 101 6.4.3.1 Theoretical Consideration and De¯nition . 101 6.4.3.2 Case Studies . 102 6.4.3.3 Summary Remark on Symbol . 105 6.5 Semeiotic Parasites, Medium, and Causation . 106 6.5.1 Signs as Parasites . 106 6.5.2 Sign as Medium . 107 6.5.3 Three Modes of Mediation . 108 6.5.4 Semeiotic Causation . 110 6.5.5 A Small Application of the Idea . 111 IV New List and the Logic of Representations 113 7 The Theory of Representations 114 7.1 Sign, Object, and Appearance . 114 7.2 `First Impressions' in the Late Peirce . 115 7.3 Sign and Representamen . 117 7.4 Peirce's `Errors' in the New List . 120 7.4.1 Textual Issues.