This bears on nothing currently under discussion, but I happened upon a note copying a passage from the Logic Notebook in which Peirce explicitly defines immediate and direct and thought I should record it here, given how frequently the question comes up.. Of course it may or may not record his actual usage, but only an intended usage at that time. But it can be compared with other passages in which the terms are defined. Anyway, it goes as follows:
A primal is that which is something that is in itself regardless of anything else. A Potential is anything which is in some respect determined but whose being is not definite A Feeling is a state of determination of consciousness which apparently might in its own nature (neglecting our experience of it etc.) continue for some time unchanged and that has no reference of anything else I call a state of consciousness immediate which does not refer to anything not present in that very state I use the terms immediate and direct, not according to their etymologies but so that to say that A is immediate to B means that it is present in B. Direct, as I use it means without the aid of any subsidiary [unreadable word] or operation. -- MS 339.493; c. 1904-05 Logic Notebook Joe Ransdell -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 267.15.8/260 - Release Date: 2/14/2006 --- Message from peirce-l forum to subscriber archive@mail-archive.com
