Peirce’s legacy for contemporary consciousness studies, the emergence of consciousness from qualia, and its evanescence in habits
Semiotica: Journal of the International Association for Semiotic Studies November 1, 2021 W. Nöth 6 citations
Charles S. Peirce's philosophy offers a productive alternative to mainstream consciousness studies, which often treat consciousness as an unsolvable mystery. Peirce provides a phenomenological approach that addresses qualia, self-control, self-reflection, language, self-consciousness, introspection, consciousness of others, nonhuman animal consciousness, and the possibility of a quasi-consciousness in the physical universe. He identifies three modes of consciousness: primisense (feeling-consciousness), altersense (consciousness of the other), and medisense (consciousness of cognition and reasoning). Adopting synechism, the principle of continuity, Peirce sees consciousness as a matter of degree rather than a sharp divide from the unconscious. Consciousness emerges from unconscious qualia and fades into unconscious habits. The paper also examines qualia, habit, and self-control in Peirce's theory of signs, including qualisigns and symbols, and the idea of signs as quasi-conscious agents in semiosis.