Ben, thanks for the correction. It makes a LOT of sense. As you know, I've used that quote many many times on the list - and using 'inorganic' rather than organic - well, from all of Peirce's writings, that focus makes more sense. He did refer to the inorganic realm as also engaged in semiosis. And clearly explained how it became 'hidebound' with habits.
Edwina ----- Original Message ----- From: Benjamin Udell To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, April 13, 2015 8:01 PM Subject: [PEIRCE-L] Nathan Houser's papers at academia.edu List, Nathan Houser has been uploading many of his papers to academia.edu. http://iupui.academia.edu/NathanHouser One does not need to actually download a PDF to read one of his papers. Once one clicks on the "close" X of the download popup, the paper itself appears in HTML form on the webpage. I've been reading his "The Scent of Truth" on abductive inference, and came upon this tidbit of which I had been unaware. Nathan quotes Peirce and adds and end note. Thought is not necessarily connected with a brain. It appears in the work of bees,of crystals, and throughout the purely physical world; and one can no more deny that it is really there, than that the colors, the shapes, etc., of objects are really there.... Not only is thought in the inorganic³ world, but it develops there. (CP 4.551) 3. As reported in Houser 2000, in the faircopy manuscript that Peirce submitted to _The Open Court_, he clearly wrote 'inorganic,' but the word was set in type for publication in _The Monist_ as 'organic' and that reading was carried over to the _Collected Papers_. [End quote] It makes the sentence work better. If he had meant 'organic', it would have been better to write, "In the organic world, not only is there thought, but it develops there...." Still, could Peirce have let 'organic' stand on purpose? After all, he could have corrected in the subsequent errata. But I think he simply missed it, and that 'inorganic' was the word that he intended. In the past I had put some weight on Peirce's (seemingly) saying that thought originates in the organic world and his seeming silence about whether it originates also in the inorganic world. Best, Ben ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------- PEIRCE-L subscribers: Click on "Reply List" or "Reply All" to REPLY ON PEIRCE-L to this message. PEIRCE-L posts should go to [email protected] . To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message not to PEIRCE-L but to [email protected] with the line "UNSubscribe PEIRCE-L" in the BODY of the message. More at http://www.cspeirce.com/peirce-l/peirce-l.htm .
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