Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- CHAPTER I NATURE AND DESIGN OF THIS WORK
- CHAPTER II SIGNS AND THEIR LAWS
- CHAPTER III DERIVATION OF THE LAWS
- CHAPTER IV DIVISION OF PROPOSITIONS
- CHAPTER V PRINCIPLES OF SYMBOLICAL REASONING
- CHAPTER VI OF INTERPRETATION
- CHAPTER VII OF ELIMINATION
- CHAPTER VIII OF REDUCTION
- CHAPTER IX METHODS OF ABBREVIATION
- CHAPTER X CONDITIONS OF A PERFECT METHOD
- CHAPTER XI OF SECONDARY PROPOSITIONS
- CHAPTER XII METHODS IN SECONDARY PROPOSITIONS
- CHAPTER XIII CLARKE AND SPINOZA
- CHAPTER XIV EXAMPLE OF ANALYSIS
- CHAPTER XV OF THE ARISTOTELIAN LOGIC
- CHAPTER XVI OF THE THEORY OF PROBABILITIES
- CHAPTER XVII GENERAL METHOD IN PROBABILITIES
- CHAPTER XVIII ELEMENTARY ILLUSTRATIONS
- CHAPTER XIX OF STATISTICAL CONDITIONS
- CHAPTER XX PROBLEMS ON CAUSES
- CHAPTER XXI PROBABILITY OF JUDGMENTS
- CHAPTER XXII CONSTITUTION OF THE INTELLECT
- ERRATA
CHAPTER II - SIGNS AND THEIR LAWS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2011
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- CHAPTER I NATURE AND DESIGN OF THIS WORK
- CHAPTER II SIGNS AND THEIR LAWS
- CHAPTER III DERIVATION OF THE LAWS
- CHAPTER IV DIVISION OF PROPOSITIONS
- CHAPTER V PRINCIPLES OF SYMBOLICAL REASONING
- CHAPTER VI OF INTERPRETATION
- CHAPTER VII OF ELIMINATION
- CHAPTER VIII OF REDUCTION
- CHAPTER IX METHODS OF ABBREVIATION
- CHAPTER X CONDITIONS OF A PERFECT METHOD
- CHAPTER XI OF SECONDARY PROPOSITIONS
- CHAPTER XII METHODS IN SECONDARY PROPOSITIONS
- CHAPTER XIII CLARKE AND SPINOZA
- CHAPTER XIV EXAMPLE OF ANALYSIS
- CHAPTER XV OF THE ARISTOTELIAN LOGIC
- CHAPTER XVI OF THE THEORY OF PROBABILITIES
- CHAPTER XVII GENERAL METHOD IN PROBABILITIES
- CHAPTER XVIII ELEMENTARY ILLUSTRATIONS
- CHAPTER XIX OF STATISTICAL CONDITIONS
- CHAPTER XX PROBLEMS ON CAUSES
- CHAPTER XXI PROBABILITY OF JUDGMENTS
- CHAPTER XXII CONSTITUTION OF THE INTELLECT
- ERRATA
Summary
OF SIGNS IN GENERAL, AND OF THE SIGNS APPROPRIATE TO THE SCIENCE OF LOGIC IN PARTICULAR ; ALSO OF THE LAWS TO WHICH THAT CLASS OF SIGNS ARE SUBJECT.
1. That Language is an instrument of human reason, and not merely a medium for the expression of thought, is a truth generally admitted. It is proposed in this chapter to inquire what it is that renders Language thus subservient to the most important of our intellectual faculties. In the various steps of this inquiry we shall be led to consider the constitution of Language, considered as a system adapted to an end or purpose ; to investigate its elements; to seek to determine their mutual relation and dependence; and to inquire in what manner they contribute to the attainment of the end to which, as co-ordinate parts of a system, they have respect.
In proceeding to these inquiries, it will not be necessary to enter into the discussion of that famous question of the schools, whether Language is to be regarded as an essential instrument of reasoning, or whether, on the other hand, it is possible for us to reason without its aid. I suppose this question to be beside the design of the present treatise, for the following reason, viz., that it is the business of Science to investigate laws; and that, whether we regard signs as the representatives of things and of their relations, or as the representatives of the conceptions and operations of the human intellect, in studying the laws of signs, we are in effect studying the manifested laws of reasoning.
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- Information
- An Investigation of the Laws of ThoughtOn Which Are Founded the Mathematical Theories of Logic and Probabilities, pp. 24 - 38Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009First published in: 1854