There are a number of debates on this topic at the moment. 1) Does 'Mind' or reasoning extend into the physico-chemical realm - as well as the biological and socioconceptual realm? Those of us who consider that it does are labelled as 'pansemioticians' or even 'panpsychics'. Even the definition of these terms is suspect; Clark Goble considers that pansemiosis 'neglects Firstness and Secondness'. That's not my definition of pansemiosis - which is instead, that the semiosic process operates in all matter not just living matter. And since semiosis includes Mind/reasoning - that means that Mind operates in all matter...and in all three categorical modes. And this is certainly not neoplatonism.
Others consider that Mind or 'thinking', which is to say, operating within propositional formation, begins with the biological realm. And of course, I'm sure there are others who consider that it is confined to the socioconceptual. 2) Then, there are some who define the actions that take place among atoms and molecules as purely reactive, actions of Secondness; i.e., that no 'reasoning' process takes place. They may, as does Clark Goble, admit that mediation (Thirdness) plays a role but it is a non-cognitive mode. John Deely simply rejects Mind within the physical realm and considers their interactions, if I understand him, pure acts of Secondness - dyadic interactions with no mediation and of course, no Mind. 3) And there are terminological debates, such as the nature of and difference between 'cognition' and 'communication' and 'interaction' and so on. I don't think that these debates are reducible to full communal agreement; our differences will remain. After all, our opinions are not mere whims (Firstness) but are themselves due to our own cognitive analyses over many years. Therefore, we can debate and 'tweak' them, because we are cognitive beings - but in many cases, we'll have to leave it at that. Edwina
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