The Commens Dictionary

Quote from ‘Letters to Lady Welby’

Term: 
Sign
Quote: 

I define a Sign as anything which is so determined by something else, called its Object, and so determines an effect upon a person, which effect I call its Interpretant, that the latter is thereby mediately determined by the former. My insertion of “upon a person” is a sop to Cerberus, because I despair of making my own broader conception understood.

Source: 
Peirce, Charles S. (nd). Letters to Lady Welby. MS [R] L463
Date: 
1908
References: 
SS 80-81
Editorial Annotations: 

In a variant of this passage, the "sop to Cerberus" refers to "mind" rather than "person"

Citation: 
‘Sign’ (pub. 19.08.13-19:08). Quote in M. Bergman & S. Paavola (Eds.), The Commens Dictionary: Peirce's Terms in His Own Words. New Edition. Retrieved from http://www.commens.org/dictionary/entry/quote-letters-lady-welby-43.
Posted: 
Aug 19, 2013, 19:08 by Sami Paavola
Last revised: 
Aug 09, 2017, 00:55 by Mats Bergman