The problem of the essential icon

1. Icon, Index and Symbol
Charles Peirce made a well-known distinction
between icons, indices and symbols.
These are three kinds of signifi cation—specifi
cally, three kinds of relationship between
a sign and its object. I use the term ‘signifi
cation’ instead of terms more familiar in
analytic philosophy of language such as
‘representation’ or ‘reference’ in an attempt
to loosen an apparent near-exclusive hold of
the spoken and written word on many philosophers’
thinking about meaning, which is
relevant to our topic. The icon/index/symbol
distinction has already been much investigated
by Peirce scholars,1 but a brief summary
will be helpful.