A Primer on Natural Signs

By Razie Mah

In the late 1800s, Charles S. Peirce defines natural signs as icons, indexes and symbols. The difference among them reflects the three categories of firstness, secondness and thirdness (the realms of possibility, actuality and normal context). In the early 1900s, Ferdinand de Sausure discovers an important feature of symbols. They constitute systems of differences. Peirce would have called them: symbolic orders.
This primer is not the standard semiotic tract on Peirce's signs. It is an introduction to the way that natural signs come into play in human evolution. Consequently, I emphasize sign-qualities and how they apply to both cognition and communication. I also show how natural signs may be depicted using category-based nested forms.
Prerequisites include the primers on the category-based nested form and on sensible and social construction. The causality of signs is introduced in the comments on John Deely's book (1994) New Beginnings

• Language: English
• Publisher: Razie Mah
• Release date: Feb 3, 2018
• ISBN: 9781942824442

Razie Mah

See website for bio.

Book preview

A Primer on Natural Signs

By Razie Mah

Published for Smashwords.com

2018

Notes on Text

The natural sign is a type of triadic relation. This primer introduces the three natural signs of icon, index and symbol, then discusses their semiotic qualities.

Prerequisites: Primer on the Category-Based Nested Form (Primer #1) and Primer on Sensible and Social Construction (Primer #2). For further reading, the causality of the sign associates to the category-based nested form in Comments on John Deely’s (1994) New Beginnings.

Table of Contents

Three Examples

Icons

Index

Realness and Intersubjectivity

Symbol

Intersubjectivity and Realness

Summary

Three Examples

0001 A sign is a triadic relation. A sign-vehicle stands for a sign-object in regards to a sign-interpretant. Each of these elements has its own categorical qualities. The natural sign typology is based on the categorical qualities of the sign-object.

0002 Here is one way to depict the sign relation.

0003 A classic example is a TRAFFIC STOP SIGN.

What we call a traffic-stop sign is a sign-vehicle, typically located at road intersections. This sign-vehicle stands for a sign-object. The sign-object is a command. Stop my automobile at the sign-vehicle. The bases for this signification are the rules of the road. Some people call it the law.

When I fail to stop, I break the law.

0004 So, what about natural signs?

The sign-object can take the character of Peirce’s categories of firstness, secondness and thirdness. These three permutations identify the three types of natural signs: icon, index and symbol.

0005 Here are three sign-vehicles that serve as examples.

0006 All three sign-vehicles exist as matter. So, the materialist concludes that the sign-vehicle should be called a sign. After all, matter is all there is.

But, matter does not make the sign. The sign-relation exploits the presence of matter (in the form of the sign-vehicle).

0007 Here is a thought experiment.

Let me suppose that