[percy-l] Peirce/Percy

Mike Frentz mfrentz at bbn.com
Mon Aug 18 12:04:19 EDT 2003


If anyone is seriously interested in this question, Deacon's book "The 
Symbolic Species"  (1997) has by far the most lucid description I've read 
of how symbols are composed (composable) from Peircean icons and 
indices.  His work on the origins of language (and the virtual absence of 
it in all species but our own) is very much in line with Percy's insight, 
but very well grounded in contemporary hands-on scientific experimentation 
and findings.

Someone on Peirce-L also noted that Deacon's Homunculus book is still cited 
as being underway on his website.  Something to look forward to.


Mike


At 05:16 PM 8/17/2003 -0400, you wrote:
>Thanks...I think that's what I was looking for.  But again, it's still 
>pretty mysterious.
>
>KP
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: <mailto:piat1 at bellsouth.net>James Piat
>To: <mailto:percy-l at lists.ibiblio.org>Percy-L: Literary and Philosophical 
>Discussion
>Sent: Sunday, August 17, 2003 12:49 PM
>Subject: Re: [percy-l] Peirce/Percy
>
>Percy says in several places that Susanne Langer dropped the ball and he 
>intended to pick it up -- he says it in the essays, the conversations, 
>etc.  But only one place do I recall that he actually says WHAT she 
>dropped -- what she missed.  I believe it was early in my reading, in 
>"Message," but I don't remember what it was and I'm going to have to go 
>back and look.  I thought someone else might have been familiar with it.
>
>Dear Karey,
>
>Perhaps the passage you are looking for is on page 220 of _The Message in 
>the Bottle_ . A footnote in Percy's essay "Culture: The Antinomy of the 
>Scientific Method".
>
>"As Susanne Langer says, we may, if we like, interpret language as a 
>sequence of events entailing signs, sounds in the air, vibrations of ear 
>drums, nerve excitation, brain events, response and so on.  All  this does 
>happen.  But something has been left out and it is the most important 
>thing of all. It is that the symbol symbolizes something."
>
>Cheers,
>Jim Piat
>
>
>----------
>--
>
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>
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>--
>
>An archive of all list discussion is available at 
>http://www.ibiblio.org/wpercy/hypermail
>
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