Group ~
Going back to the original question, I believe a "law of nature" is
characterized differently, in terms of Sign relationships, depending upon
one of three ('ness) perspectives from which the "law of nature" is being
considered:
1 - To Peirce-Emerson-The Sphinx: Existence consists solely of: (a)
objects which (b) behave logically. To Peirce, behaving logically is the
ONLY law of nature. It is the unifying element of all of existence, and
represents ultimate Truth.
>From this perspective (of ultimate Truth), phenomena labeled by Man as
"laws of nature" (such as the law of gravity) are physical potentials of
existence (firstness), which do not necessarily occur everywhere, or in all
times.
2 - To an object, like Man, affected by but unable to affect a "law of
nature," the law is a physical regularity in its environment that can be
counted on without fail. It enters the Man's logic-decision calculus as an
object or brute force (secondness).
3 - Finally, the objects comprising the environment (i.e., the environment
responsible for the "law of nature" that Man perceives) are themselves
engaged in habitual-optimizing behaviors (thirdness).
These alternating perspectives for perceiving-assigning Signs carry over to
other objects, apart from "laws of nature."
For example, subatomic particles that obey Pragmatic Logic will in certain
environmental settings evolve into a uranium atom. In other environments,
those particles would have evolved into something else. From this
perspective, a "uranium atom" is a potential (firstness Sign) of a universe
of logical particles.
To Man, the uranium atom has specific-fixed physical qualities, including
decaying at a certain fixed/predictable rate. Here, the uranium atom is an
object, with a secondness Sign.
>From the perspective of the particles comprising the uranium atom,
presently they are experiencing the optimizing relationship that earlier
evolved between them (thirdness). However, having landed on earth, the
particles comprising the uranium atom find themselves in an inhospitable
environment (relative to that of the u-atom's "birth"). Therefore, the
original habits of the particles are no longer optimal. The decay of the
uranium atom represents a transition phase (secondness activities), where
the particles seek new optimizing actives appropriate for their earth
environment (thirdness).
Regards,
Tom Wyrick
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