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Home > Quote from "New Elements (Kaina stoiceia)"

Commens
Digital Companion to C. S. Peirce
‘Symbol’ (pub. 05.05.13-12:01). Quote in M. Bergman & S. Paavola (Eds.), The Commens Dictionary: Peirce's Terms in His Own Words. New Edition. Retrieved from http://www.commens.org/dictionary/entry/quote-new-elements-kaina-stoiceia-6.
Term: 
Symbol
Quote: 

A symbol is defined as a sign which becomes such by virtue of the fact that it is interpreted as such. The signification of a complex symbol is determined by certain rules of syntax which are part of its meaning. A simple symbol is interpreted to signify what it does from some accidental circumstance or series of circumstances, which the history of any word illustrates. [–] A symbol is adapted to fulfill the function of a sign simply by the fact that it does fulfill it; that is, that it is so understood. It is, therefore, what it is understood to be. [—] Hardly any symbol directly signifies the characters it signifies; for whatever it signifies it signifies by its power of determining another sign signifying the same character.

Source: 
Peirce, C. S. (1904 [c.]). New Elements (Kaina stoiceia). MS [R] 517.
References: 
EP 2:317
Date of Quote: 
1904 [c.]
URL: 

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