Peirce’s Pragmatism, Semiotics, and Physical Representation
Charles Peirce is widely credited as the originator of semiotics, or the general theory of signs, and recognized as the founder of American pragmatism, albeit in that peculiar kind Peirce himself went on to distinguish as “pragmaticism.” The semiotic and pragmatist strands in Peirce’s thought come t...
| Autores: | , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2024 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad Camilo José Cela (UCJC) |
| Repositorio: | Depósito Digital e-UCJC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:repositorio.ucjc.edu:20.500.12020/1797 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://journals.openedition.org/ejpap/3817 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12020/1797 https://doi.org/10.4000/11p4t |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Filosofía, Filología y Lingüística Peirce Pragmatism Semiotic Feynman diagram Philosophy of Physics representation 7205.04 Filosofía de la Física |
| Sumario: | Charles Peirce is widely credited as the originator of semiotics, or the general theory of signs, and recognized as the founder of American pragmatism, albeit in that peculiar kind Peirce himself went on to distinguish as “pragmaticism.” The semiotic and pragmatist strands in Peirce’s thought come together in an appraisal of scientific diagrammatic representations. Peirce’s pragmatic maxim entails that the consequences of a sign inform our entire conception of the sign, while his most considered semiotic system entails that a complex sign partakes of iconic, indexical, and symbolic aspects. We illustrate Peirce’s insights by means of the celebrated Feynman Diagrams in Quantum Electrodynamics. We argue that Peirce’s late, post-1903, semiotics provides an adequate characterization of such “hypoicons,” and his pragmatic maxim explains how they can motivate and drive inquiry. We conclude that Peirce’s pragmatic approach to scientific diagrams remains a viable position that skillfully avoids dogmatic scientism and nihilistic skepticism alike. |
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