On 1/22/2018 10:55 AM, [email protected] wrote:
I didn’t realize that you were looking for advocacy of biosemiotics
in Peirce’s writings. I don’t think he ever used the term,
I was asking about the development of Peirce's thought (as shown
by the content and dates of his MSS), not about the explicit word.
The word zoosemiotics was coined by Sebeok in the 1960s. The word
biosemiotics came later. It's highly unlikely that Peirce said it.
As I said in the last line of my note:
He must have been thinking about generalizing semiosis long
before 1903. Where can we find the evidence?
In the excerpt below, I mentioned his article on logical machines,
various anecdotes, and knowledge of Darwin. Those ideas could have
led to earlier, possibly fragmentary, anticipations.
But more evidence -- even hints, suggestions, or musements --
could clarify the development of his thoughts.
John
_____________________________________________________________________
In 1887, he published an article about logical machines. Among other
things, he cited Jacquard looms (early 1800s) and Babbage's machines.
Ada Lovelace wrote her memoirs about programming them in 1843. If
machines could use signs, there would be no logical objection to
claiming that animals could use signs.
He talked about the use of signs by any "scientific intelligence"
-- for which the only criterion is the ability to learn from experience.
His anecdotes about dogs and parrots showed how they learn from
experience. He also mentioned other kinds of animals in various
writings. His principle of continuity and his knowledge of Darwin's
studies (1859) would lead him to extend at least some subset of semiosis
to animals.
He must have been thinking about generalizing semiosis long before 1903.
Where can we find the evidence?
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