With the six volumes of the Writings edited by the Peirce Edition Project at Indiana University since 1982, the monumental work of Charles S. Peirce has finally received the care, respect, and love that it deserves. The sixth volume, object of attention of this review, represents a thorough selection and edition of Peirce's writings from 1886 to 1890.

In a brief overview this article discusses that, in the multifaceted field of cognitive sciences, the problem of consciousness and mind is far from being resolved. The article then argues that this problem is worked out in careful detail in Peirce’s work. Intelligence, hence mind, for Peirce, is distinct from consciousness. Without being dissociable, they are, in fact, distinct but complementary. Hence, Peirce’s ideas should be recovered not only for the sake of their relevance, but also because cognitivists have a (...) lot to learn from Peirce. (shrink)

Teoria e práticas semióticas -- Literatura e ideologia -- Apontamentos para a questão do ícone -- Arquitetura como processo de linguagem -- Por uma classificação da linguagem escrita.

Following Peirce's broad concept of semiosis as a foundation of a field ofsrudy, the semiotics ofphysical nanrre, it is argued that we have to explore the interconnections of Peirce's semiotics with metaphysics. These interconnections will be analyzed in five steps: (I) Peirce's radical antidualism and evolutionism, implied in his synechistic ideas, (2) Peirce's semiotic statement that "all this universe is perfused with signs if it is not composed exclusively of signs" (CP 5.448, n.l), (3) Peirce's bold statement that "matter is (...) effete mind, inveterate habits becoming physical laws" (CP 6.24), (4) his theory of final causation, which can only be properly understood in the light of semiosis, (5) his metaphysics and his methodeutics in relation to semiotics. The laws of nature are discovered by abductive inference revealing an affinity between the human mind and the designs of nature. Hence, the formal laws of thought are not simply laws of our minds but laws of the intelligibility of things. (shrink)

Peirce's statement that "all this universe is perfused with signs, if it is not composed exclusively of signs" has puzzled semioticians as much as his dictum of matter being "effete mind" has bewildered physicists and metaphysicians. Based on Peirce's broad concept of mind and on the presupposition that no pure, absolute secondness or brute reality can be found, neither in nature nor in thought, this paper discusses a possible way to overcome the semioticians' puzzlement and the metaphysicians' bewilderment. In the (...) metaphysical context of synechism, mind is synonymous with continuity; in the logical context of semiotics it is synonymous with semiosis. Mind is continuity and semiosis. In the light of synechism, human mind and physical matter are the two extremes of a very subtle and complex range of differentiations along the continuous time-arrow that constitutes nature. If mind, the one kind of stuff in the universe, is conceived of as semiosis, then semiotics supplies us with concepts to guide the conjunction between semiosis and the synechistic postulate of continuity between mind and matter. (shrink)

Resumo: Depois de 1900, Peirce esteve empenhado no desenvolvimento de sua teoria dos signos, particularmente na teoria dos interpretantes, e, ainda mais especificamente, na teoria dos interpretantes lógicos, pois nestes estaria a pedra de toque para a unificação do pragmatismo com a teoria dos signos. Em 1907, ele declarou que o problema do significado de um conceito intelectual só poderia ser resolvido com o estudo dos interpretantes, ou efeitos propriamente significados dos signos. Foi nesse contexto que Peirce elaborou sua famosa (...) subdivisão dos interpretantes em emocional, energético e lógico. Em 1968, Peirce havia afirmado que o interpretante de um pensamento é outro pensamento e que esse processo é teoricamente infinito. Muitos autores impressionados com essa afirmação, sem se darem ao trabalho de seguir o desenvolvimento desse conceito ao longo da obra de Peirce, concluíram pela tão citada semiose infinita. Umberto Eco, por exemplo, foi um dos autores a tirar partido dessa noção de infinitude. O objetivo deste trabalho é discutir a transformação por que esse conceito de interpretante passou na obra peirceana, especialmente depois de 1907, quando Peirce introduziu sua noção de interpretante lógico. Essa noção mudaria a idéia - que infelizmente continua sendo tão propalada - de que a semiose é um processo infinito abstrato, sem conexão com o agir humano. Se assim fosse, a semiose não teria conexão com o pragmatismo. Quando descobriu o papel do interpretante lógico no hábito e do interpretante último na mudança de hábito, Peirce aliou a natureza processual da semiose com o pragmatismo. Dessa síntese resultou o caráter evolucionista do seu pragmatismo.Palavras-chave: Interpretante lógico. Semiose. Hábito. Pragmatismo.: After 1900, Peirce engaged himself in the development of his theory of signs, particularly in the theory of interpretants and even more specifically in the theory of the logical interpretants, since the latter represented the touchstone for linking pragmatism to the theory of signs. In 1907, he declared that the problem of what the "meaning" of an intellectual concept is could only be solved by the study of the interpretants, or the proper significate effects of signs. It was within this concept that Peirce developed his famous subdivision of interpretants in emotional, energetic and logical. Peirce stated in 1968 that the interpretant of a thought is another thought, and that this process, theoretically, is infinite. Many authors impressed with this assertion, and without bothering to follow the progress of this concept throughout Peirce's works, favored that infinite semiosis, so often referred to. Umberto Eco, for instance, was one author who made extensive use of this notion of infinitude. The aim of this paper is to discuss the transformation that this concept of interpretant has undergone in Peircean works, particularly after 1907, when Peirce introduced his notion of the logical interpretant. This notion would come to change the idea - which unfortunately continues widespread - that semiosis is an abstract infinite process, unconnected with human action. Were it so, semiosis would bear no relation with pragmatism. When Peirce discovered the role of the logical interpretant in habit, and of the ultimate interpretant in the change of habit, he combined the processual nature of semiosis with pragmatism. From this synthesis derived the evolutionist character of his pragmatism.Key-words: Logical interpretant. Semiosis. Habit. Pragmatism. (shrink)

Resumo: O sinequismo é o pensamento que insiste na idéia da importância primordial da continuidade na filosofia. No seu aspecto metodológico, o sinequismo aponta para a necessidade de se levantar hipóteses que envolvam uma verdadeira continuidade. O principal motivo para isso é evitar hipóteses de que isto ou aquilo seja inexplicável, pois o sinequista defende que a única justificativa para uma hipótese é a de que ela forneça uma explicação para os fenômenos. O objetivo deste trabalho é explorar o aspecto (...) metodológico do sinequismo. É a concepção do sinequismo como um princípio regulativo da lógica, prescrevendo que espécie de hipótese deve ser mantida e examinada, que nos revela o significado pragmático do sinequismo que, segundo Peirce, apresenta uma correspondência muito próxima com o significado pragmático da mente.Palavras-chave: pragmatismo, Peirce, mente, sinequismo, hipótese.: Synechism is the kind of thought that insists on the idea of the primordial relevance of continuity in Philosophy. In its methodological aspect, synechism points to the need of raising hypotheses involving true continuity. The main reason for that is to avoid hypotheses that this or that is inexplicable, since the synechist claims that the only justification for a hypothesis is that it provides an explanation to phenomena. The aim of the present paper is to explore the methodological aspect of synechism. It is the conception of synechism as a regulative principle of Logic, prescribing the kind of hypothesis to be entertained and examined, that reveals to us the pragmatic meaning of synechism; a meaning that, for Peirce, presents a very close correspondence to the pragmatic meaning of Mind.Key-words: pragmatism, Peirce, mind, synechism, hypothesis. (shrink)

Desde meados do século 20, quando as ciências cognitivas desabrocharam e continuaram até hoje o seu caminho de avanços ininterruptos, os temas relativos à noção da consciência, a par das buscas de definição para os conceitos da mente, pensamento, inteligência etc. têm ocupado posição central nessas ciências e mesmo para além delas. Recentemente, a preocupação com esses conceitos cresceu com bastante ênfase a partir da explosão até agora bem-sucedida da inteligência artificial. O que é inteligência? Como a cognição humana se (...) distingue da cognição maquínica? Essas e outras interrogações similares se constituem em questões candentes. Diante disso, este artigo propõe desenvolver o conceito peirciano da mente com a convicção de que sua explanação cuidadosa pode trazer uma grande contribuição para as ciências cognitivas em geral e para os estudos sobre inteligência artificial em particular. (shrink)

The thesis defended in Giovanni Maddalena’s book, The Philosophy of Gesture. Completing Pragmatists’ Incomplete Revolution, is that the pragmatist project represents a sound way to face the Kantian dilemmas. However, this project was incomplete and to overcome this gap, the author builds the concept of “complete gesture,” based more particularly on the phenomenology and semiotics of C. S. Peirce. In addition to being well-built, the concept is inspiring, and this is clearly demonstrated in it...

Resumo: Este artigo tem por objetivo inserir a discussão do segundo pragmatismo de Peirce, por ele chamado de pragmaticismo, no contexto das ciências normativas, a saber, a estética, a ética e a lógica ou semiótica. Tendo por finalidade estudar os fins e ideais que guiam os sentimentos, a conduta e o pensamento humanos, as ciências normativas funcionam como chaves para a compreensão do ideal último do pragmaticismo que está no crescimento da razoabilidade concreta do mundo.: The aim of this article (...) is to discuss Peirce's second pragmatism, witch he called pragmaticism, within the framework of his normative sciences, i. e. aesthetics, ethics, and logic or semiotic. The scope of these sciences is the study of the aims and ideals that guide human feeling, behavior, and thought. The normative sciences function as a key to the understanding of the ultimate ideal of pragmatism, i. e., the grouth of concrete reasonableness in the world. (shrink)

A vida de Peirce teve um período de ascensão, seguido por um crescente declínio até o ponto de ter sobrevivido, na idade madura, na dependência cada vez mais necessária da generosidade de seu amigo William James. Este artigo acompanha as dificuldades, tortuosidades e vicissitudes, uma verdadeira saga vivida pela organização e publicação das 12.000 páginas que publicou em vida e das 100 mil páginas que deixou em manuscritos. As expectativas de uma publicação à altura do valor dessa obra e as (...) dificuldades para que isso se realize geram um desconcertante paralelismo entre os destinos da vida de Peirce e os de sua obra. (shrink)

My training in the field of languages - musical, visual, and verbal - was always marked by attention to the materiality of languages themselves and to the means how they are transmitted to allow their communicative functions. Since the phonatory system, installed in the body itself, these means constitute technologies that have evolved over the centuries, bringing with them new forms of languages, such as the different forms of writing, the Gutenberg galaxy and, from the 19th century onwards, the industrial, (...) electronic, and digital revolutions, each introducing technologies of their own. When language issues are placed in the focus of attention, what matters, since the industrial revolution, is the advent of cognitive technologies, such as photography, cinema, followed by electronic technologies - radio and television -, and, finally, the explosion of the digital revolution with all its new language forms and consequently of cognition, which today are distributed across the most different applications and platforms. The study of this evolution led me to postulate, based on the inspiration gathered from some authors, that human cognition is, since the first forms of writing, growing outside the human skull. Therefore, this is a proposal that concerns the exosomatization of human intelligence and cognition with all the contradictions that this brings. This article is dedicated to explaining this proposal with attention to the way it was developed in my work along the years. (shrink)

1. The First Seeds A number of scholars of international reputation visited Brazil at the end of the 1960s to give lectures and seminars. Among them were: Nicolas Ruwet, Abraham Moles, Max Bense, Roman Jakobson, Umberto Eco, and Tzvetan Todorov. More than any others, Jakobson’s lectures had deep and widespread effect on university circles and on the intellectual and artistic milieu. A while after his visit, a volume containing a series of Jakobson’s articles was translated and published in S...

In this era of terabytes and big data, the field of digital culture and art is witnessing an emergence of dystopian lines of criticism denouncing new forms of programmed governmentality and ubiquitous surveillance, placing societies, lifestyles and the human psyche under the control of algorithms. These criticisms are so negative because they start from a belief of human autonomy from technology. To examine the other side of this argument, this article aims to discuss the coevolution of humans and technology. To (...) accomplish this aim, the article is based on the writings and practice of the artist and theorist Roy Ascott, in whose work can be found the most original and significant conceptual sources for the defence of this thesis. (shrink)

If a state commits injustice, who is responsible for compensating its victims and safeguarding against future wrongdoing? Do the state’s citizens bear this responsibility? Do they all bear it equally? Avia Pasternak's and Holly Lawford-Smith's recent books address these pressing questions. Each book represents a thought-provoking attempt to derive an account of citizen responsibility for state wrongs from an account of state agency understood as group agency. Though the books demonstrate the promise of this approach to produce action-guiding advice for (...) real policymakers, they also demonstrate its limitations—in particular, its lack of attention to social structures. Here, I argue that Pasternak's and Lawford-Smith's views would be enriched by further engagement with the literature on structural injustice, which takes individuals’ perpetuation of social systems (not their implication in acts of group agency) as a central source of their remedial obligations. Through critical engagement with Pasternak and Lawford-Smith, I illustrate how a structural injustice framework could yield more attractive conclusions than a group agency framework in certain cases, better explain non-culpable forms of citizen responsibility, and allow us to theorize citizen responsibility for state action without making questionable claims about the metaphysics or social ontology of group agency. (shrink)

Sumário - Introdução; Ética e política; Jornada de seis horas; As utopias do século XXI; Dois mil e cinquenta; Política e ética; Política e ética II; Política e ética III; Desenvolvimento moral; O programa de direitos humanos; A verdade e o futuro da nação; Restaurando a ética; Moral e interesse; A eficácia sempre vence; A volta da política; O policial Beltrame; O amor cidadão.

This chapter investigates the biography of Theodor W. Adorno and assesses his particular thoughts on musical philosophy. Adorno was born in Frankfurt am Main on September 11, 1903. While on vacation in Visp, Switzerland, he died of a heart attack on August 6, 1969. Aesthetic Theory, with Philosophy of New Music at its heart, subsumed the legacy of Adorno's entire philosophy; along with his Negative Dialectics and a planned work on moral philosophy that his early death prevented. Art and philosophy (...) played a central role from his early years onward. In Philosophy of New Music, Adorno refined the theory of musical material. The discussion of Adorno's philosophy of music gradually died down, as interest increasingly turned to engagement with the posthumous Aesthetic Theory. (shrink)

Dispelling the Darkness: A Jesuit’s Quest for the Soul of Tibet, by Donal S. Lopez Jr. and Thupten Jinpa. Harvard University Press, 2017. 320 pp. Hb and e-book. £23.95. ISBN- 13: 9780674659704.

Rodolfo Sacco developed the idea of “mute behaviours” during his studies on mute law. The notion of “mute behaviours” denotes an action that is able to mould a legal relationship without any use of language. Certainly, this concept may give rise to some doubts in relation to the attribution—to a behaviour qualified as mute—of the capability to affect dynamics involving a plurality of people. Aiming to clarify the idea of “mute behaviours” by this point of view, the authors analysed the (...) semiotic terminology used by Sacco himself to explain this notion and the issue of its silent nature. Therefore, the terms “signifying signs” and “symptoms”, deemed by Sacco—respectively—incompatible and compatible with the theory of mute behaviours were considered. The former term was traced back to the notion of conventional and arbitrary sign, the notion of the latter was reconstructed linking it to the concept of signs based on signification and suggesting a possible framework in view of the idea of “presentative meanings” developed by the philosopher Guido Morpurgo-Tagliabue. Clarified this dichotomy by a terminological analysis, the authors noticed—as affirmed by Rodolfo Sacco himself—the impossibility to ascribe the notion of gesture to the mute behaviour’s category, as some exegetes proposed. Consequently to this last remark, the authors tried to analyse the relationship between gestures and “mute behaviours”, identifying the category of “sema-pragmatic acts”, that includes gestures and may be seen as an intermediate phase between “mute behaviours” and legally relevant behaviours operated by speaking. (shrink)

The emotional connotation of words is known to affect word and sentence processing. However, the when and how of the interaction between emotion and grammar are still up for debate. In this behavioural experiment, 35 female university students read noun phrases (NPs) composed by a determiner and a noun in their L1 (Spanish), and were asked to indicate if the NPs were grammatically correct (elmasc camareromasc) or not (*lafem tornillomasc; i.e. a gender agreement task). The type of gender (arbitrary/natural), the (...) emotionality (unpleasant/neutral), and the gender class (feminine/masculine) of the nouns were manipulated. We found an overall grammaticality effect, responses being faster in grammatically correct trials than in incorrect ones. However, the effects of emotionality and gender class varied depending on gender type. For arbitrary gender, the grammaticality effect was greater in feminine nouns than in masculine nouns and independent of emotionality. For natural gender, the grammaticality effect interacted with gender class and emotionality, this effect only emerging in unpleasant stimuli for feminine nouns. Our results reveal that it is possible to find emotional effects at the behavioural level in an intrinsically grammatical task. Yet, these effects depend on gender properties like the type of gender and the gender class. (shrink)

Metaphysics, Psychology and Philosophy have defined the notion of archetype. We will argue that there is another concept, the “anarchetype” which could escape to the centralization and to any pre‑defined structure building on archetypes. Anarchetype belongs to anarchic and unpredictable structures denying center and logos. It could be used to study marginal or non coherent works far beyond occidental pattern. Eschatype is finally analysed. Some structures without any archetype have to draw an internal evolution before building any model or order. (...) If eschatype is not initially known, it finally shows up and exposes explanations, meanings and even a structure. Eschatype may then give birth to a new theme. It finally may be found in other supports or works, structure and archetype. (shrink)