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Commens
Digital Companion to C. S. Peirce
‘Action’ (pub. 05.06.14-18:55). 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-pragmatism-19.
Term: 
Action
Quote: 

Let me remind you of the distinction … between dynamical, or dyadic, action; and intelligent, or triadic action. An event, A, may, by brute force, produce an event, B; and then the event, B, may in its turn produce a third event, C. The fact that the event, C, is about to be produced by B has no influence at all upon the production of B by A. It is impossible that it should, since the action of B in producing C is a contingent future event at the time B is produced. Such is dyadic action, which is so called because each step of it concerns a pair of objects.

Source: 
Peirce, C. S. (1907). Pragmatism. MS [R] 318.
References: 
5.472
Date of Quote: 
1907
URL: 

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