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First is the conception of being or existing independent of anything else. Second is the conception of being relative to, the conception of reaction with, something else. Third is the conception of mediation, whereby a first and second are brought into relation.

— Charles Sanders Peirce The Architecture of Theories (1891)

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More quotes by Charles Sanders Peirce

The entire universe is perfused with signs, if it is not composed exclusively of signs.

Essays in Zoosemiotics (1990)

The idea does not belong to the soul; it is the soul that belongs to the idea.

Collected Papers (1931)

Mere imagination would indeed be mere trifling; only no imagination is mere.

Collected Papers (1931)

A sign is in a conjoint relation to the thing denoted and to the mind.

On The Algebra of Logic (1885)

It is important to understand what I mean by semiosis.

Pragmatism (1907)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Charles Sanders Peirce (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.