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Revision as of 18:34, 19 August 2011
, 18:34, 19 August 2011→7.2.5. Discussion of Examples: + text
====7.2.5. Discussion of Examples====
====7.2.5. Discussion of Examples====
At this point, in order to make further use of the pragmatic theory of signs without distorting its character too severely, I am forced, even for the sake of this simple example, to broach a difficult and potentially controversial topic that, for good or ill, can no longer be avoided. For future reference, let me entitle this issue as a question about "the general versus the restricted theory of sign relations". The problem for pragmatic theory and practical application is how to steer a middle course between the riptide of vague generalities and the narrow idols of reductive procedure.
In general, questions about the relationship of signs and interpretants, both inside and outside a computational framework, form a major concern of the pragmatic theory of signs, and will continue to be revisited throughout this discussion. Time and time again, questions about the true character of the interpretant role are found to abide at the heart of the problem, forming the cardinal points of investigation on which everything else hinges. The reason for this appears to be yet another brand of recursion or self similarity affecting the domain of inquiry. Namely, interpretants fill a role within their individual sign relations that is analogous to the role that sign relations used as formal models fill within the larger inquiry, providing a controlled mediation between the wide open domains of phenomena and language.
In the general theory of sign relations, which concerns itself with the formal properties of thinking processes, the interpretant domain is meant to encompass the full variety of mental impressions and affections: ideas, concepts, intuitions, intentions, impulses and dispositions to act, and every sort of intellectual construct, both cognitive and affective. This heady brew is not yet on the table for current consumption, but all of it imbues the aspirations of artificial intelligence with a measure of essential enthusiasm, and a spirit to which even those whose scope is focused on the objective dynamics of intelligent systems cannot turn down a glass.
Working within the constraints of formally effective descriptions (FED's), this project can explore nothing more than pale scattered shadows of these connotative and ideational dimensions of meaning. In the pragmatic theory of signs, it is held that all thought takes place in signs. Ideas, concepts, and other mental constructs are regarded as signs in the mind, in other words, as modifications of their peculiar medium that affect the states of their conducting agents. But with regard to their pertinent formal structure, namely, the sign relations that shape their action as signs, mental signs are no different from the generic brand of signs. In sum, all signs are defined as signs precisely in terms of their relative associations and formal operations, and not according to the marks of any absolute material essence.
Still, there falls within the sweep of this enlarged scope an element of crucial importance to all forms of pragmatic thinking. This is the notion that a solid store of meanings for signs and ideas can be found, not quite in the individual actions of an agent that come and go with the moment, so transient and irrepeatable in themselves, but in the agent's conative character, informed conduct, and consummate disposition to act. This realm includes both inborn and borne in patterns of inclination, broadly conceived plans of action, and generalized contingent resolutions to act in definite ways under prescribed conditions.
If this description sounds familiar, it is with good reason. The formal realm that shares these features is precisely the domain of operational definitions and effective programs whose use in clarifying concepts is being explored in this project. The upshot is, that whatever vague signs are allowed into the sign domain simply on the chance that they might mean something to somebody sometime, there is a more critical property demanded of the interpretant domain that is intended to play a role in deliberate inquiry. For a sign relation to serve inquiry in a positive way its interpretant domain ought to make available to its agent explicit expressions of program like entities that can define with maximal clarity the imports of its signs and ideas.
====7.2.6. Information and Inquiry====
====7.2.6. Information and Inquiry====
