Lists,

One of the claims made in the first chapter of Natural Propositions that caught 
my eye is that “Peirce’s redefinition of propositions under the generalized 
notion of “Dicisign”, however, forms but one node in a vast redefinition of the 
whole field of cognition . . . .” (NP, 2)

I’d like to ask a couple of questions about how we should think aboutthis 
redefinition of the field.  Let’s take a closer look at the way Frederik 
introduces this line of thought.  He says:  “At the core of Peirce’s 
rearticulation of the cognitive field, then, is a daring generalization.”  
There are two parts to this generalization:

1)      “all of mathematics is developed by diagrammatical reasoning.”
2)      “all deductive reasoning is undertaken by such diagrammatical 
reasoning” (NP, 3)

He then offers a long quote from MS 634 that sums up the ambitions involved in 
rearticulating the cognitive field.  After giving a short overview of how the 
chapters fit together, he concludes by saying that the most important offering 
of Peirce’s semiotics is “a renewed outlook of the whole of the ‘cognitive 
field,’ enabling us to envision the exploration of routes not taken, both in 
terms of further conceptual development and experimental investigations.”

I agree with Frederik’s claim that Peirce is dramatically reconceiving the 
boundaries of logic as semiotic.  Having said that, here are two questions I’d 
like to think about a little more as we prepare to head into chapters 2 and 
then 3:

First, what are the other key developments in Peirce’s normative science of 
semiotics that—in addition to a deeper appreciation of the role of diagrams in 
deductive reasoning--are driving this rearticulation of the cognitive field?

Second, if the normative science of semiotics is being broadened, how might we 
understand the boundaries of this science?  That is, where does normative 
science of semiotics stop and special science of biology or psychology start?

--Jeff

Jeff Downard
Associate Professor
Department of Philosophy
NAU
(o) 523-8354
________________________________________
From: Gary Fuhrman [[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2014 7:52 AM
To: [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: [PEIRCE-L] RE: Natural Propositions seminar

Greetings all,



Next Monday, Sept. 1, we’ll be starting our online seminar based on Frederik 
Stjernfelt’s Natural Propositions. Frederik will make the introductory post to 
both lists, with the subject line "Stjernfelt Seminar: Chapter 1, 
Introduction". Anyone on either list can reply, but the whole process will work 
best if the following general rules are followed:

1.      Don’t change the subject line of your reply unless you DON’T want your 
reply to be included in the seminar thread.

2.     Always check the address(es) that your reply is going to. It should go 
to the list(s) that you are subscribed to, and not to any individual list 
member. You may need to delete some addresses from the address field in your 
message window before you send — especially if you are on the peirce-l list, 
which automatically sends your reply to the original poster unless you delete 
his or her address before sending.

3.     Also before you send, note that prior messages in the thread may be 
automatically included in your reply, and delete these “trailers” unless your 
reply refers to them directly.



As each new chapter thread begins, the threadleader will start it off with a 
new subject line in the same format as the previous. (See attached schedule — 
I’m trying to insert it below, but not sure if it will display properly.) 
Previous threads can continue (under their own subject line, of course) after 
the new one begins.


Chapter

Natural Propositions

Threadleader(s)

Start date

1

Introduction

Frederik Stjernfelt

1 Sep

2

anti-psychologism

Jeff Kasser

8 Sep

3.1-7

dicisigns I

Gary Fuhrman

22 Sep

3.8-14

dicisigns II

Jeff Downard

6 Oct

4

Naturalization

Tyler Bennett

20 Oct

5

Cognition

Mara Woods

3 Nov

6

Evolution

John Collier

17 Nov

7

beyond language

1 Dec

8

Iconicities

Gary Richmond

15 Dec

9

diagrams I

29 Dec

10

diagrams II

5 Jan

11-12

Enlightenment

Yogi Hendlin

12 Jan



I’ll be happy to take any questions on this, on or offlist.



gary f.



} Any living cell carries with it the experiences of a billion years of 
experimentation by its ancestors. [Max Delbruck] {
www.gnusystems.ca/gnoxic.htm<http://www.gnusystems.ca/gnoxic.htm> }{ gnoxics



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