Cell Language Theory, The: Connecting Mind And Matter

286 The Cell Language Theory: Connecting Mind and Matter

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

information) was born as a logical consequence of the development of

molecular biology which might be said to have begun in 1953 with

Watson and Crick’s discovery of the DNA double helix and subsequent

breaking of the genetic code [363]. Peirce missed the molecular bio-

logical revolution by about four decades, so his semiotics could not

address microsemiosis and hence was limited to studying macrosemio-

sis, particularly anthroposemiosis and physiosemiosis [281, 294, 295].

The amount of the posthumous publications of Peirce’s works on

signs are enormous and their interpretations are controversial. Modern

biosemioticians are faced with the challenge of discerning to what extent,

if any, the numerous theories, concepts, and conclusions that were formu-

lated by Peirce on the basis of his investigations on macrosemiosis mostly

in the 19th century can be applied to the study of microsemiosis opened

up by molecular and cell biological revolutions in the 20th and 21st cen-

turies. An equally important challenge is for modern semioticians and

philosophers to find out, to what extent, if any, the semiotic analysis of

living processes, aided by modern molecular and cell biology, can contrib-

ute to solving some of the thorny philosophical and metaphysical prob-

lems plaguing the field of semiotics. The former challenge may be easier

to deal with than the latter one, since the principles and regularities under-

lying microsemiosis may be more readily uncovered due to the relative

simplicity of microsemiosic systems (e.g., enzymes, cells, and neural

networks) and the availability of the associated objective experimental

data as compared to macrosemiosic systems (e.g., psychology).

6.10 Peirce’s Metaphysics as the Basis for Unifying Sciences

Peirce sought to erect a new system of philosophy (or what would now be

called a “Theory of Everything” (TOE)) based on a simple set of concepts

that can accommodate not only the Aristotelian philosophy, but also the

new knowledge that had accumulated since the time of Aristotle up to the

20th century [99, 372]. He thought that his system of philosophy would

apply to all fields of human knowledge, known and yet to be known (see

Statement (6.20)), in agreement with the so-called Josephson conjecture,

Statement (4.8) [238], at least in part.

To demonstrate the idea that, underlying all phenomena, there are three

and only three categories of being, Peirce provided examples belonging to

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