Token [as General Sign]   

Token [as General Sign]

Commens
Digital Companion to C. S. Peirce
Token [as General Sign]
1885 | On the Algebra of Logic: A Contribution to the Philosophy of Notation | W 5:162

A sign is in a conjoint relation to the thing denoted and to the mind. If this triple relation is not of a degenerate species, the sign is related to its object only in consequence of a mental association, and depends upon a habit. Such signs are always abstract and general, because habits are general rules to which the organism has become subjected. They are, for the most part, conventional or arbitrary. They include all general words, the main body of speech, and any mode of conveying a judgment. For the sake of brevity I will call them tokens.

1886 | An Elementary Account of the Logic of Relatives | W 5:379

Signs, or representations, are of three kinds: Icons, Indices, and Tokens. The token represents its object in consequence of a mental association, and depends upon a habit. Such signs are abstract and general, because habits are general rules to which the organism has become subjected. They are, for the most part, conventional and arbitrary. All common nouns are tokens. Indeed, all words, insofar as they are conventional, partake of this character.

nd | Degrees of Degeneracy [R] | MS [R] 911

a sign may bring the thought into relation to the thing signified by virtue of a habit or association of ideas, in which case it is a general sign, or as I call it a token