Learning to map the virtual evolution of knowledge

Abstract

T. Deacon uses C. Peirce's theoretical perspective to examine a fundamental human predicament (the increasingly indirect linkage between the physical world and our symbolic experience). This paper argues that we might now use that same perspective to examine the evolution of knowledge in human leaning as a virtual extension of natural evolution. Peirce's pragmatic logic can then be appreciated as a method to achieve self-controlled evolution of our habits of thought. In building this argument, I address misconceptions about Peirce's logical theory (especially, that logic relies on language), and suggest his graphical forms (Existential Graphs) as an instrument for building a virtual "living ecosystem of knowledge," for conceptual structures research in the Semantic Web. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.