Cell Language Theory, The: Connecting Mind And Matter

276 The Cell Language Theory: Connecting Mind and Matter

b2861 The Cell Language Theory: Connecting Mind and Matter “6x9”

Since each of the three subscripts can assume any one of the three

possible numerical values — i as one of the three values in the third row

in Figure 6.6, j as one of the three values in the second row, and k as one

of the three values in the first row — there can be in principle 3 × 3 × 3 =

27 possible composite signs. However, Pierce chose only 10 out of these

possibilities apparently based on what is referred to as the PSR, (6.9),

given above.

Inequality (6.9) can be viewed as an example of “rule-governed crea-

tivity (RGC)”, a well-established principle in linguistics. RGC may be

alternatively called the “rule-governed freedom” (RGF) to avoid giving

any impression of anthropocentrism. RGF is also exhibited by quarks,

since the three quarks in a baryon can change their colors “freely”, from

red to blue to green, as long as the sum of their colors remain white

(“rule-governedness”).

6.6.4 Derivation of “Nilsign” and Its Associated Category Called

“Zeroness” Based on the Quark Model of the Peircean Sign

According to Sheriff [98],

Legisign is “a sign which would lose the character which renders it a

sign if there were no interpretant”. (6.10)

Sinsign is “a sign which would, at once, lose the character which

makes it a sign if its object were removed, but would not lose that

character if there were no interpretant”. (6.11)

Qualisign “can only be an icon”. (6.12)

It is based on Statement (6.11) that I regard sinsign as “interpretant-

less sign”, meaning that it can be a sign without its interpretant. We can

represent this idea algebraically thus:

(^) Si jk,,→=i=0 Sjk, Sinsign (6.13)
Process (6.13) can be read as
A sinsign is the sign that results when there is no interpretant, i.e.,
when i = 0. (6.14)
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