Bibliography

Meaning Preface

…Real is the proper contrary of Illusion, Delusion, or Figment, while to exist means, by virtue of the ex in exsistere, to act upon, to react against, the other things that exist in the psycho-physical universe.

…existence […] may be used in a wider or a narrower sense. In its wider sense it is a synonym for Actual, and is such Being as is both Definite and in all respects Determinate; while in its narrower sense it is a Substance, or substratum, which acts on, and is acted on by, the Universe of Substance.

A Real object may be External or Internal, i.e. mental, as a dream is. For only that is external whose possession of some character is [not merely] independent of individuals’ opinions, but whose possession of any such Real character is independent of any individuals’ thought about any subject and ideation of every kind.

…the mode of representation may be by likeness or analogy, in which case, the sign may be called an Icon; or it may be by a real connexion, as a certain kind of rapid pulse is symptom of a fever, in which case the sign may be called an indication or Index; or finally the only connexion may lie in the fact that the Sign (a word, for example) is sure to be interpreted as standing for the Object, in which case the Sign may be called a Symbol…

…the mode of representation may be by likeness or analogy, in which case, the sign may be called an Icon; or it may be by a real connexion, as a certain kind of rapid pulse is symptom of a fever, in which case the sign may be called an indication or Index; or finally the only connexion may lie in the fact that the Sign (a word, for example) is sure to be interpreted as standing for the Object, in which case the Sign may be called a Symbol…

It is not only essential to a Sign that it should represent, i.e. stand in place of or for, an Object, but, if possible, still more so that it should be capable of Interpretation by or through a mind, into which it implants a germ which, on development, will affect the conduct of the person to whom that mind appertains; and not until this effect, which throughout this volume will be called the Interpretant of the Sign, is brought about will the sign function as the Sign .

[The Sign can only] represent the Object and tell about it. It cannot furnish acquaintance with or recognition of that Object; for that is what is meant in this volume by the Object of a Sign; namely, that with which it presupposes an acquaintance in order to convey some further information concerning it.

A general who during a battle must instantly risk the existence of a nation either upon the truth of a certain hypothesis or else upon its falsity, must perforce go upon his judgment at the moment; and his doing so is in so far logical that all reasoning is based upon a tacit assumption that Nature, in the sense of the aggregate of truth, is conformed, more or less, to something similar to the reasoner’s Reason. This kind of inference may be called Practical Retroduction. It is ordinarily called Presumption.

…Real is the proper contrary of Illusion, Delusion, or Figment, while to exist means, by virtue of the ex in exsistere, to act upon, to react against, the other things that exist in the psycho-physical universe.

That is Real which has characters independently of what contrary or other characters any person or collection of persons may in any sort of idea attribute to it. This is not to say the characters are possessed independently of all Thought about it, nor of whatever might be the final opinion to which sufficient research would lead. Thus the substance of a dream, that is, what is dreamed is not Real, since the object dreamed has only such characters as the mind of the dreamer gives it. But the dream itself is a Real fact, if it has occurred no matter who opines that it has not. A Real object may be External or Internal, i.e. mental, as a dream is. For only that is external whose possession of some character is [not merely] independent of individuals’ opinions, but whose possession of any such Real character is independent of any individuals’ thought about any subject and ideation of every kind.

If […] indefinite time can be allowed for judging of the truth of an explanatory hypothesis, the most favorable conclusion is that the consequences of [those] hypotheses that are susceptible of verification should be subjected to systematic and thorough tests. This, which may be called Scientific Retroduction, will be subject to considerations of economy.

…the word Sign will be used throughout the volume to denote an Object perceptible, or only imaginable, or even unimaginable in one sense, – for the word ‘fast’, which is a Sign, is not imaginable, since it is not this word itself that can be set down on paper or pronounced, but only an instance of it and since it is the very same word when it is written as it is when it is pronounced, but is one word when it means ‘rapidly’ and quite another when it means ‘immovable,’ and a third when it refers to abstinence. But in order that anything should be a Sign, it must “represent,” as we say, something else, called its Object, although the condition that a Sign must be other than its Object is perhaps arbitrary, since, if we insist upon it we must make an exception in the case of a Sign that is a part of a Sign. [—]

It is not only essential to a Sign that it shall represent an Object, but it is at least as much so that it should be capable of Interpretation by a mind; and until it be so interpreted it does not function as a Sign. That is to say, the Sign must act upon the mind of the Interpreter in such a way that the latter shall be affected substantially as if by the Object (for so far as the Sign is deceptive it is not a Sign of its Object;) though the Interpreter will pe[r]ceive that it is the Sign and not the Object itself that directly affects him.

It is not only essential to a Sign that it should represent, i.e. stand in place of or for, an Object, but, if possible, still more so that it should be capable of Interpretation by or through a mind, into which it implants a germ which, on development, will affect the conduct of the person to whom that mind appertains; and not until this effect, which throughout this volume will be called the Interpretant of the Sign, is brought about will the sign function as the Sign .

…the mode of representation may be by likeness or analogy, in which case, the sign may be called an Icon; or it may be by a real connexion, as a certain kind of rapid pulse is symptom of a fever, in which case the sign may be called an indication or Index; or finally the only connexion may lie in the fact that the Sign (a word, for example) is sure to be interpreted as standing for the Object, in which case the Sign may be called a Symbol…

True Thought takes the form […] of a dialogue. For true thought is deliberate, and deliberation implies the asking of questions, and appeals to another personality for confirmation, objections, and other dialogic forms.