Abstract: The core issue of this paper is how to understand the “pragmaticism” which C. S. Peirce endorsed. The debate that has been continuing since the antique time about the connection between words-signs and their objects (the issue of motivation) leaves a great number of questions. Socrates, as described by Plato, hesitated on the issue. Scholars, later divided in their opinions, as Saussure and Peirce did, from complete unmotivatedness to frequent motivation, but still localized. All these were issues in the primary motivation. Once signs have entered the use of social activities, secondary ubiquitous motivation takes place. Peirce was among the first to declare that signs grow in their practical use, and the use of signs is actually to develop the signs. Therefore, the pragmatic activities themselves fertilize the signs themselves.

Key words: signs, primary motivation, secondary motivation, pragmaticism

摘要： 本文讨论为什么皮尔斯的pragmaticism应当理解为“符用论”。哲学史上关于词语符号与对象如何连接(即理据性问题),辩论绵延几千年,至今留下很多问题。柏拉图笔下的苏格拉底,对此十分犹豫,后世学者,从索绪尔到皮尔斯,也各执一词。从“全无理据”,到“有大量理据”,理据性只能局部存在。但这都是“初始理据性”的讨论,一旦符号进入社会性使用,就带上了普遍理据性。皮尔斯首先提出“符号靠符号生长”的观点。符号的使用也就是理据性积累的过程,符用成为符号意义活动的核心领域。

关键词: 符号, 初始理据性, 符用理据性, 符用论