I believe that the subject line blurs too many issues.
In various writings over the years, Peirce wrote about real possibilities. He also wrote about laws as real. In writing about modality, he distinguished three universes: the possible, the actual, and the necessitated. Actual existence is just one of the three ways of being real. He also distinguished logical possibility and necessity from real possibility and necessity. A theory is logically possible if it's consistent by itself. It's a real possibility if it's also consistent with the laws of nature. Given the above, apply the principles to signs. For that, consider Peirce's Letters to Lady Welby in 1908, in which he wrote about signs and the three universes (EP 2:478-480). In EP 2:488, he wrote that the triad Potisign (possible sign) / actisign (sign in act) / and famisign (familiar or general sign) might be called (tinge or tone or mark) / token / type. Since mark is his final choice, I'll use mark instead of tinge or tone. General principle: In any occurrence of semiosis, there is always a perceptible mark that is interpreted by some mind or quasi-mind as a token of some type. Prior to semiosis, the perceptible thing exists in actuality. But it's only a possible mark. It doesn't become an actual mark until it is sensed by some mind or quasi-mind. Then as soon as it's recognized, the actual mark becomes an actual token of some type. In summary, semiosis turns real possibilities into real actualities. John
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