About
PhiloSign
“The idea does not belong to the soul; it is the soul that belongs to the idea.”
— Charles Sanders Peirce
Trapped in a Dilemma
We are amidst a huge paradigm shift.
The materialistic worldview, once dominant, appears to have run its course. Many of us are left feeling confused without a sense of meaning or purpose. We find ourselves in limbo, wondering: Where do we go from here?
Many of us feel caught in an impossible choice: science or religion, matter or mind, logic or feelings, reason or life. More precisely, we are caught between:
- a materialist–“scientific” worldview that strips away meaning and life, and
- a subjective idealism that embraces feelings and life, but lacks a solid foundation in logic and reason.
No wonder we feel trapped.
Peirce’s Paradigm Shift
Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) recognized these challenges already in the 19th century and worked towards developing a comprehensive logical world view capable of bridging these artificial divides that cause the fragmentation of our lives.
Peirce reveals how a false understanding of logic is at the root of our current meaning crisis.
For Peirce, logic and reasoning are not merely computational, but involve qualitative inferences like aesthetical judgements and sentiments.
Imagine waking up to a sky colored in soft pink and orange. The air feels crisp and peaceful. You intuitively sense that the day will be calm and clear, not through computation, but by feeling the environment.
This is Peirce’s idea of reasoning founded on aesthetic perceptual judgments. The beautiful qualities of the morning are signs communicating information to you.
By internalizing information about the environment, we are communicating with it through signs. That is why Peirce understands signs as the medium for communication in which our whole experience is embedded.
We are not a brain computing input data. Rather, we are aesthetical interpreters in a continuous stream of meaning.
Logic is not just analytical; it’s deeply connected to the qualitative aspects of experience. For Peirce logic and the study of signs – semiotics – are synonymous.
Semiotics is, therefore, the logic we use to conceptualize and analyze this constant qualitative flow of meaning and information. It reveals how we perceive, experience, interpret, and communicate meaning.
What better tool could we have for solving the meaning crisis than the very logic of meaning-making itself? But semiotics is much more.
Semiotics is nothing less than the very logic of reality itself – fully within our grasp.
However, to truly grasp semiotics, one must embrace the metaphysical reality of signs.
Following Peirce, we must wholeheartedly believe that “the entire universe is perfused with signs, if it is not composed exclusively of signs”.
Through the semiotics, meaning and purpose are not merely found – they are restored to the very fabric of reality and woven back into our lives.
My Philosophical Journey
My main focus is on the philosophy of Charles Peirce. However, I also want to connect Peirce’s ideas with those of other thinkers. My aim is to share his insights and explore their broader applications.
I believe Peirce’s system of thought is essential for advancing our understanding and breaking free from the dead end of modernity.
I’m passionate about delving deep into the fundamental questions of philosophy. For me, philosophy is more than just an intellectual pursuit. It’s a way of life aimed at personal transformation.
The purpose of philosophical inquiry is to draw us closer to the transcendent by aligning our habits with it. Philosophy is a form of participation with the eternal verities
Above all, I seek Beauty, Goodness, and Truth, guided by the sentiments of Faith, Hope, and Love.
Sincerely,
Markus