Jon AS,
after introducing Seme/Pheme/Delome in 1906, did Peirce ever use
term/proposition/argument when referring to non-Symbols? What
about when referring to Existential Graphs?
CP 4.538 (copied below) is from a 1906 Monist article about EGs.
That paragraph and a few after it seem to be the only references
to that triad, except for a brief comment in 2008, which cites it.
It's possible that the triad may occur in some unpublished MS. But
I checked Don Roberts' book on EGs, since he usually discusses the
MSS. But he desn't mention seme or delome. He does mention pheme,
but only to explain the term 'phemic sheet'. Peirce used the term
'Sheet of Assertion' more often, and it's easier to explain.
I am feeling more receptive to the idea of using Term/Proposition
/Argument in lieu of Seme/Pheme/Delome...
my remaining reservations are primarily with "Term." It still seems
odd to use that label for an Icon, such as a painting without a legend;
or an Index, such as a pointing finger; or a Percept (CP 5.439) or the
blank Sheet of Assertion (CP 4.553), both of which Peirce explicitly
classified as Semes. Did Peirce ever refer to these sorts of Signs
as "Terms"?
I agree with both of those points, and so would the CP editors.
They added two significant footnotes to CP 4.538:
†2. The footnote to "Seme" is "Or rheme. But cf. 4.560."
See below for CP 4.560.
†3. The footnote to "Pheme" is "Or dicisign."
According to those two footnotes, Hartshorne & Weiss considered
the triad rheme/dicisign/argument to be synonyms or at least
approximate synonyms for seme/pheme/delome.
From what Peirce himself wrote in CP 4.538 & 560, it seems that
he would consider predicate/proposition/argument to be synonyms
or approximate synonyms for both of those triads.
Since all logicians and their students today are familiar with
that triad, it's the one I have been using -- but I also use
the words 'monad', 'dyad', 'triad', 'tetrad', 'pentad'... for
nodes in EGs with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... pegs. And I use the word
'medad' for a proposition (a node with zero pegs).
John
____________________________________________________________________
CP 4.538. A familiar logical triplet is Term, Proposition, Argument.
In order to make this a division of all signs, the first two members
have to be much widened. By a Seme,†2 I shall mean anything which
serves for any purpose as a substitute for an object of which it is,
in some sense, a representative or Sign. The logical Term, which is
a class-name, is a Seme. Thus, the term "The mortality of man" is a
Seme. By a Pheme†3 I mean a Sign which is equivalent to a grammatical
sentence, whether it be Interrogative, Imperative, or Assertory. In
any case, such a Sign is intended to have some sort of compulsive
effect on the Interpreter of it. As the third member of the triplet,
I sometimes use the word Delome (pronounce deeloam, from {délöma}),
though Argument would answer well enough. It is a Sign which has the
Form of tending to act upon the Interpreter through his own self-
control, representing a process of change in thoughts or signs, as if
to induce this change in the Interpreter. A Graph is a Pheme, and in
my use hitherto, at least, a Proposition. An Argument is represented
by a series of Graphs.
CP 4.560. By a rheme, or predicate, will here be meant a blank form
of proposition which might have resulted by striking out certain parts
of a proposition, and leaving a blank in the place of each, the parts
stricken out being such that if each blank were filled with a proper
name, a proposition (however nonsensical) would thereby be recomposed.
An ordinary predicate of which no analysis is intended to be represented
will usually be written in abbreviated form, but having a particular
point on the periphery of the written form appropriated to each of the
blanks that might be filled with a proper name. Such written form with
the appropriated points shall be termed a Spot; and each appropriated
point of its periphery shall be called a Peg of the Spot. If a heavy
dot is placed at each Peg, the Spot will become a Graph expressing a
proposition in which every blank is filled by a word (or concept)
denoting an indefinite individual object, "something."
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