thirdnessn.
Philosophy.
The quality or state of belonging to a third category or of being a third element, spec. in the philosophy of C. S. Peirce (1839–1914), that which connects, mediates between, etc., the ontological categories that he designated as firstness and secondness (cf. secondness n.).
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the mind > mental capacity > philosophy > philosophy of language > language theories of individual philosophers > [noun] > elements of the philosophy of C. S. Peirce
thirdnessc1875
predesignation1883
tychism1892
interpretantc1905
icona1914
qualisigna1914
Peirce's Law1934
c1875 C. S. Peirce Coll. Papers (1931) I. §337. 170 (heading) Examples of thirdness.
c1875 C. S. Peirce Coll. Papers (1931) I. §337. 171 Continuity represents Thirdness almost to perfection.
1914 W. De Morgan When Ghost meets Ghost i. xx. 219 The first person plural pronoun, used as a dual by a lady to a gentleman, sometimes makes hay of the thirdness of their respective persons singular.
1934 Mind 43 490 Thirdness includes the meaning of signs, the conception of general laws, ‘infinity, continuity, diffusion, growth, and intelligence’... It is the category that is concerned with connecting, and it is involved in all reflective thought.
1978 Sci. Amer. July 19/3 Thirdness concerns two things ‘mediated’ by a third, for example an apple falling from a tree. The tree and the apple are linked by the relation ‘falling from’.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online June 2018).
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