[Inquiry] Re: Kaina Stoicheia

[Jon Awbrey]

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KS.  Note 6

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| Of signs there are two different degenerate forms.
| But though I give them this disparaging name, they
| are of the greatest utility, and serve purposes that
| genuine signs could not.
|
| The more degenerate of the two forms (as I look upon it)
| is the 'icon'.  This is defined as a sign of which the
| character that fits it to become a sign of the sort
| that it is, is simply inherent in it as a quality
| of it.
|
| For example, a geometrical figure drawn on paper may
| be an 'icon' of a triangle or other geometrical form.
|
| If one meets a man whose language one does not know
| and resorts to imitative sounds and gestures, these
| approach the character of an icon.  The reason they
| are not pure icons is that the purpose of them is
| emphasized.
|
| A pure icon is independent of any purpose.  It serves as a sign
| solely and simply by exhibiting the quality it serves to signify.
| The relation to its object is a degenerate relation.  It asserts
| nothing.  If it conveys information, it is only in the sense in
| which the object that it is used to represent may be said to
| convey information.  An 'icon' can only be a fragment of
| a completer sign.
|
| C.S. Peirce, ["Kaina Stoicheia"], NEM 4, 241-242
|
| C.S. Peirce, ["Kaina Stoicheia"], MS 517 (1904), pp. 235-263 in:
| Carolyn Eisele (ed.), 'The New Elements of Mathematics by
| Charles S. Peirce, Volume 4, Mathematical Philosophy',
| Mouton, The Hague, 1976.
|
| Cf. "New Elements", pp. 300-324 in 'The Essential Peirce, Volume 2 (1893-1913)',
| Peirce Edition Project (eds.), Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN, 1998.

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