Signification | Critical analysis Philosophical logic Modes of inference |
P
eirce's theory on semiotics indentified three different types of signs: icon, index, or symbol. Whether a sign belongs in one category or another is dependent on the structure of the relationship of the sign to its meaning. An icon is a sign that resembles its object. An index refers to its object not by any similarity, but rather by an actual causal link between the sign and its object. Symbols refer to their object by virtue of law, rule, or convention, but no similarity or causal link exits. A photograph can function in any of these modalities.
“I believe in mooring our words by certain applications and letting them change their meaning as our conceptions of the things to which we have applied them progresses.” - Charles Peirce
