Volume 34, Issue 1/2, 2018
John N. Deely Memorial Issue
Donna E. West
Pages 39-64
https://doi.org/10.5840/ajs201841835
Deely¡¯s Extension of Peirce¡¯s Thirdness
Pregenerativity
According to Deely, Peirce¡¯s renovation of Saussure¡¯s semiology to create his division of signs was far-reaching; it incorporates their use within non-living systems. Deely¡¯s rationale is founded upon consideration of Peirce¡¯s concept of individual/the continuum, and reality/existence. Deely¡¯s argument proceeds as follows: it is not uniqueness or unique conscious reflection which qualifies sign use, but the habits to which animate and inanimate systems become subject. In posing his argument, Deely draws upon Krampen¡¯s claim that signs permeate the plant world, in the Thirdness of plant reactions to experiences. This clearly illustrates the significant impact of Secondness in semiosis. Deely¡¯s further (but brief) treatment of how potential eventualities qualify as real reveals Deely¡¯s final interpretation of Peirce¡¯s sign legacy. It brings to light Peirce¡¯s insistence that possibility (that which is yet to transpire) may influence semiosis more substantially than mere actuality. In fact, potential habit-change represents Peirce¡¯s most mature semiotic¡ªwhat obviates the existence and use of signs in living and nonliving systems alike is not the degree of awareness/consciousness of what inhabits signs, but changes in reactivity (a form of pregenerative thirdness).