LINGUAL SIGN AS TREATED IN CH. S PIERCE’S GENERAL THEORY OF SIGNS: PHILOSOPHICAL FOOTHOLD

Abstract

This paper attempts to explore some potential contributions of Ch. S. Pierce’s philosophical ideas to the development of his semiotic theory. The author tries to provide evidence that Pierce’s semiotics was something more than a mere descriptive catalogue of signs in use and that he was looking for connections and generalizations. The starting point of the author’s analysis is to indicate the place of semiotic in the scope of sciences. It is shown that Ch. Pierce applied the term „logic” to define the science of the necessary laws of thought that always takes place by means of signs, therefore he extends logic to embrace all the necessary principles of semeiotic. The analysis of the major line of argument in Peirce’s works on the categories of Firstness, Secondness and Thirdness is provided and the meaning of his definitions is clarified. Basic ideas of Pierce’s semeiotic or the general theory of signs are discussed and the connection of his three trichotomies of signs with the mentioned philosophical categories is substantiated. The generalized representation of sign relations in three different trichtomies of signs is suggested. Special attention is paid to the well-known – though not very well understood – division of signs into icons, indices, and symbols, since this particular trichotomy throws a very special light on Peirce's ideas of lingual sign. The symbolic sign is discussed in connection with the traditional problem of accounting for the generality of ideas or words. The author comes to the conclusion that though lingual signs are but one type of signs on Pierce’s view, but it is of the essence of Peirce's theory that the nature of other sorts of signs must be taken into account for the proper understanding of lingual ones.