Skip to content
Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter Mouton January 10, 2017

The Transformations of Abduction: From the Inferential Model to the Logic of Relatives

  • Giacinto Davide Guagnano EMAIL logo
From the journal Semiotica

Abstract

This article traces the evolution of C. S. Peirce’s notion of abduction and proposes an interpretation of this evolution in light of the philosopher’s own theory of categories. It shows the shift from the inferential and propositional model developed in On a New List of Categories in 1867 and Some Consequences of Four Incapacities in 1868, focused on the category of Firstness (quality) to the post-1890 evenemential model. In this post-1890 model, Firstnesses, events expressed by the verb of the proposition, are generated in their opposition to other Firstnesses (the relation of Secondnesses) from a tendency to action or general habit, Thirdness. Parallel to this, the article also shows the shift from the first formulation of the notion of abduction, which replaced the multiplicity of qualities with a comprehensive predicate that implied all of them to the discovery of the diagrammatic reasoning and Logic of Relatives, which confers greater importance to the category of Thirdness and transforms the abductive movement into a transductive one.

References

Abrams, Jerrold J. 2004. Peirce, Kant, and Apel on transcendental semiotics: The unity of apperception and the deduction of the categories of signs. Transactions of the Charles Sanders Peirce Society 40(4). 627–677.Search in Google Scholar

Bonfantini, M. A. & Marco Macciò. 1977. La neutralità impossibile. Milan: Mazzotta.Search in Google Scholar

Eco, Umberto. 1984. Semiotics and the philosophy of language. London: Macmillan Press.10.1007/978-1-349-17338-9Search in Google Scholar

Fabbrichesi Leo, Rossella. 1992. Il concetto di relazione in Peirce. Milan: Jaca Book.Search in Google Scholar

Fabbrichesi Leo, Rossella. 2014. Peirce e Wittgenstein: un incontro. Immagine, prassi, credenza. Milan: Mimesis.Search in Google Scholar

Hoffmann, Michael. 1999. Problems with Peirce’s conception of abduction. Foundation of Science 4. 271–305.10.1023/A:1009675824079Search in Google Scholar

Kruijff, Geert-Jan M. 2005. Peirce’s late theory of abduction: A comprehensive account. Semiotica 153(1/4). 431–454.10.1515/semi.2005.2005.153-1-4.431Search in Google Scholar

Paavola, Sami. 2011. Diagrams, iconicity, and abductive discovery. Semiotica 186(1/4). 297–314.10.1515/semi.2011.057Search in Google Scholar

Paolucci, Claudio. 2010. Strutturalismo e interpretazione. Milan: Bompiani.Search in Google Scholar

Peirce, Charles S. 1931–1966. The collected papers of Charles S. Peirce, 8 vols., C. Hartshorne, P. Weiss & A. W. Burks (eds.). Cambridge: Harvard University Press. [Reference to Peirce’s papers will be designated CP followed by volume and paragraph number.]Search in Google Scholar

Peirce, Charles S. 1967. Manuscripts in the Houghton Library of Harvard University, as identified by Richard Robin, Annotated catalogue of the papers of Charles S. Peirce. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press. [Reference to Peirce’s manuscripts will be designated MS.]Search in Google Scholar

Peirce, Charles S. 1982. Writings of Charles S. Peirce, 6 vols., M. Fisch, E. Moore & C. Kloesel (eds.). Bloomington: Indiana University Press. [Reference to Peirce’s writings will be designated W followed by volume and page number.]Search in Google Scholar

Peirce, Charles S. 1997. Pragmatism as a principle and method of right thinking: The 1903 Harvard lectures on pragmatism, P. A. Turrisi (ed.). New York: State University of New York Press.Search in Google Scholar

Peirce, Charles Sanders. 1998. Essential Peirce: Selected philosophical writings, vol. 2 (1893–1913), Peirce Edition Project (eds.). Bloomington: Indiana University Press. [Reference to vol. 2 of Essential Peirce will be designated EP 2.]Search in Google Scholar

Ponzio, Augusto, Massimo A. Bonfantini & Giuseppe Mininni. 1985. Per parlare dei segni. Bari: Adriatica Editrice.Search in Google Scholar

Psillos, Stathis. 2011. An explorer upon untrodden ground: Peirce on abduction. In John Woods, Dov Gabbay & Stephan Hartmann (eds.), Handbook of the history of logic, vol. 10, 115–148. Amsterdam: Elsevier.10.1016/B978-0-444-52936-7.50004-5Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2017-1-10
Published in Print: 2017-3-1

©2017 by De Gruyter Mouton

Downloaded on 19.3.2024 from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/sem-2016-0068/html
Scroll to top button