II.—ANALYTIC STATEMENTS IN SEMIOSIS

Abstract

WHAT are analytic statements? How are they to be distinguished from synthetic statements? Are analytic statements tautological? In what sense are they certain or necessary? Or are all statements contingent and problematic? What operational criteria do we have, if any, by means of which we can ascertain, in a given case, whether a statement is analytic or synthetic ? In this paper I try to formulate, using a more or less natural language, some brief answers to these questions. First, a tentative statement as to the status of analytic statements in the process of semiosis. Accepting in a general way the distinctions between the pragmatical, syntactical, and semantical dimensions of semiosis (as recently formulated by Mr. Morris), I suggest, by way of preliminary orientation, that within the syntactical dimension of semiosis, a statement is analytic if the denial of it involves a contradiction; that within the pragmatical dimension, a statement is analytic if our habits of operating with it, our intents and interpretants with respect to it, are such that when faced with a negative instance, we shall consider this fact as not requiring us to alter the statement asserted, thus limiting the class of empirical factors which are relevant to the correctness of what is asserted; and that within the semantical dimension, a statement is analytic, if our concept of its complete empirical subject (the total referent indicated, in a particular case, by the semantically meaningful terms in the statement) is such as to include , by semantical rule, some quality or relation which is, thereby, also referred to when the statement is asserted. 'While there are no graphic marks intrinsic to a sentence (occurring in a natural language) which determine infallibly whether it is analytic or synthetic, any quantification of the subject (other than universal, which is usually ambiguous) is ordinarily interpreted as meaning that the sentence is intended by its user to be synthetic, as does likewise the introduction of any space-time qualifications or the specification of any external relations as necessary for its verification. In other words, analytic statements are usually said to be validated simply by being correctly understood (a psychological test, notice) ; whereas synthetic statements, having subjects and predicates or other-