On 9/27/2017 5:07 PM, Jon Alan Schmidt wrote:
A diagram, in Peirce's terminology, is not an image; it is an icon, with indexical and symbolic elements, that embodies the significant relations among the parts of its object. An algebraic equation is a diagram just as much as a geometric figure.
I agree with some of the points in this passage, but I disagree with the first one. I would say that every diagram is an image, but it may be a composite image that contains components that are interpreted as iconic, indexical, or symbolic. An algebraic equation is a diagram that people may draw on paper or contemplate as a mental image. Chess players who go beyond an elementary level can contemplate mental diagrams that represent the chess board. They can play a blindfold game and win against chess players with lesser skills who can see the complete board in front of them. The diagrams in a chess player's mind are images with both iconic and symbolic aspects. The image of the board is iconic. But the images of the pieces become more abstract symbols.
I touched on how ethical reasoning can also be diagrammatic --referencing this very lecture as helpfully summarized by Daniel Campos...
Thanks for the reference. I found a free copy at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/289706934_The_Role_of_Diagrammatic_Reasoning_in_Ethical_Deliberation
the last installment of my recent series of articles on "The Logic of Ingenuity" (http://www.structuremag.org/?p=11107).
That's also a good article. But there has never been a sharp distinction between science and engineering. Even Aristotle claimed that knowledge from praxis and theoria are both important for metaphysics. Peirce would certainly agree. In the 19th century, the British Royal Society was limited to "gentlemen" who were sufficiently wealthy that they did not have to earn a living from their studies. There was a lot of prejudice against Faraday, but he eventually became FRS. John
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