Joe, your whole analysis (so far) makes sense to me, but i am moved to comment on this part:
[[ Now all of this is paradoxical -- seemingly incoherent, in fact -- since it seems to say at once that the symbol is essentially at the mercy of the interpretant and that it is itself responsible for what the interpretant is. ]] This aspect of Peirce's piece did not seem incoherent to me, even the first time i read it, probably because i'm in the habit of mapping descriptions of semiotic/epistemological processes onto a diagram representing a *cyclic* process. I haven't yet found such a diagram in Peirce, but i do find one in the work of Robert Rosen. Anyone who has a copy of _Life Itself_ or _Essays on Life Itself_ will find several versions of the basic diagram in each of those texts; for those new to Rosen, i would recommend http://www.panmere.com/rosen/faq_mr1.htm , which gives a fairly brief introduction to Rosen's "modeling relation", complete with diagram (toward the bottom of the page). The basic idea, if i may condense it even further, is that theoretical models always guide practice, including experiment and observation, and that the "reaction" between what's anticipated and what actually happens then guides further modeling or modification of theory -- which then guides new practice, and so on. For Rosen, this cycle is essential not only to science and human inquiry generally but to life itself. The opening sentences of section 2 in part III of Kaina Stoicheia maps onto the Rosen diagram very easily, if you take Peirce's "Theory" as equivalent to Rosen's "encoding" and Peirce's "Practice" as equivalent to Rosen's "decoding". In any case, i think the cyclic aspect of Peirce's proposal here is evident, though he doesn't label it as such. It is also noteworthy that Rosen, like Peirce, was concerned with restoring the full range of causality recognized by Aristotle, including "final cause", which of course is intimately related to the concept of entelechy. (The site mentioned above also has a page on this: http://www.panmere.com/rosen/faq_aristotelian_analysis.htm .) Since it's mainly the latter parts of Kaina Stoicheia which deal with this directly, i'll say no more about it now. But i do think it is close to the heart of what Part III is about. gary }Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery -- none but ourselves can free our minds. [Bob Marley]{ gnusystems }{ Pam Jackson & Gary Fuhrman }{ Manitoulin University }{ [EMAIL PROTECTED] }{ http://users.vianet.ca/gnox/ }{ --- Message from peirce-l forum to subscriber archive@mail-archive.com
