The Availability of Peirce’s Semeiotic: Re-Imagining the Function of Semiosis
Abstract
Peirce frequently identified his semeiotic (or comprehensive theory of signs) as a theory of representation and, in his dissertation (Columbia University, 1966) and often afterwards Joseph Ransdell explicated with unsurpassed depth and subtlety Peirce’s theory from this perspective. But, as Ransdell appreciated, Peirce explicitly doubted whether representation was sufficiently broad to encompass the scope of his semeiotic. More than a few times, he proposed mediation as possibly a more accurate term than representation. On this occasion, I am proposing availability as a way of conceiving – or re-imagining – the function of semiosis, in Peirce’s sense. This way of understanding his semeiotic might make the innermost character of his theoretical project – the comprehensive reach of his indefatigable effort to institute a truly general theory of sign-activity – more available than it otherwise would be. That is, it might enable to see more distinctly, more perspicuously, what is hiding in plain sight.
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