Gary, list, Thanks for your contribution to the discussion of this question which, however, seems to focus on Peirce's writings on categories prior to the 20th century.
At the moment my sense (and that's pretty much all it is, while I do think that at least a mini-research project is in order) is that as he approaches, then enters, the 20th century that Peirce uses the -ness suffix more and more, especially in introducing his tricategoriality into a discussion. Once *that*'s been done, the context makes it clear what is first (i.e, 1ns), etc. in the ensuing discussion. So, in a word, I think he sees that employing the -ness helps disambiguate its use in any given context, especially in introducing his no doubt strange, to some even today, notion of three phenomenological categories. Best, Gary R [image: Gary Richmond] *Gary Richmond* *Philosophy and Critical Thinking* *Communication Studies* *LaGuardia College of the City University of New York* *C 745* *718 482-5690* On Wed, Oct 28, 2015 at 4:03 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Gary R, > > > > You raise a question that I got interested in last year, so I have some > parts of an answer on hand: > > > > Peirce started writing about the categories of “First”, “Second” and > “Third” (capitalized) as early as 1885 (W5:236), using them as nouns rather > than adjectives, and not to denote an ordering of things. The first > addition of the “-ness” suffix that I’ve found is from 1886: “firstness” > and “secondness” on W5:300 (1886) and “thirdness” on the next page. Both > forms occur in the “Guess at the Riddle”. So he was using both forms > simultaneously, and i’d say there’s no precise time when he switched from > the one to the other. > > > > Gary f. > > > > } The old order changeth and lasts like the first. [*Finnegans Wake* 486] > { > > http://gnusystems.ca/wp/ }{ *Turning Signs* gateway > > > > *From:* Gary Richmond [mailto:[email protected]] > *Sent:* 28-Oct-15 14:34 > *To:* Peirce-L <[email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [PEIRCE-L] RE: [biosemiotics:8918] Re: Peirce's categories > > > > Gary F. list, > > > > I agree with this analysis, Gary, and those in your earlier notes on the > topic. > > > > I think that another interesting research project might be to sort out how > and when and where Peirce uses first, second, and third to refer to his > categories rather than these words merely referring to 'entities'. > > > > Although early in his career he sometimes uses first, second, and third to > refer to categories with no suffix -ness added, is there a moment when he > clearly switches over to the from with the -ness suffix? > > > > In the *Commens* examples of Thirdness one sees him using 'Third' to > refer to his third category as late as 1888 in 'A Guess at the Riddle', > while with the 1894 'The List of Categories: A Second Essay' (CP 1.328) he > first (among these excerpts) uses Thirdness to refer to his third category. > > Had there been any process intervening between the causal act and the > effect, this would have been a medial, > > > > or third, element. *Thirdness*, in the sense of the category, is the same > as mediation. > > In all the following examples at *Commens.* 'Thirdness' is used to > identify the category. I should, however, add that in the 1903 Harvard > Lectures he uses the expression 'Category the Third' as well as Thirdness, > and in several subsequent entries, having identified the category as > 'Thirdness', he goes on to discuss firsts, seconds, and thirds in a context > where there can be no question as to their representing the categories > (however, this seems rare). > > > > In any event, this could make for an interesting--and useful--chapter in a > dissertation. > > > > Best, > > > > Gary R > > > > > > > > ----------------------------- > 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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