Cf: Peirce’s 1870 “Logic of Relatives” • Comment 11.4
https://inquiryintoinquiry.com/2014/05/01/peirces-1870-logic-of-relatives-c…
Peirce’s 1870 “Logic of Relatives” • Comment 11.4
https://oeis.org/wiki/Peirce%27s_1870_Logic_Of_Relatives_%E2%80%A2_Part_2#C…
All,
The task before us is to clarify the relationships among
relative terms, relations, and the special cases of relations
given by equivalence relations, functions, and so on.
The first obstacle to get past is the order convention Peirce’s
orientation to relative terms causes him to use for functions.
To focus on a concrete example of immediate use in this discussion,
let’s take the “number of” function Peirce denotes by means of
square brackets and re-formulate it as a dyadic relative term v
in the following way.
v(t) := [t] = the number of the term t.
To set the dyadic relative term v within a suitable context of
interpretation, let's suppose that v corresponds to a relation
V ⊆ R × S where R is the set of real numbers and S is a suitable
syntactic domain, here described as a set of terms. The dyadic
relation V is at first sight a function from S to R. There is,
however, a great likelihood we cannot always assign a number to
every term in whatever syntactic domain S we happen to pick, so
we may eventually be forced to treat the dyadic relation V as a
partial function from S to R. All things considered, then, let’s
try the following budget of strategies and compromises.
First, let’s adapt the arrow notation for functions in such a way
as to allow detaching the functional orientation from the order in
which the names of domains are written on the page. Second, let’s
change the notation for partial functions, or pre-functions, to mark
more clearly their distinction from functions. This produces the
following scheme.
q : X → Y means q is functional at X.
q : X ← Y means q is functional at Y.
q : X ⇀ Y means q is pre-functional at X.
q : X ↼ Y means q is pre-functional at Y.
Until it becomes necessary to stipulate otherwise, let’s assume v
is a function in R of S, written v : R ← S, amounting to a functional
alias of the dyadic relation V ⊆ R × S and associated with the dyadic
relative term v whose rèlate lies in the set R of real numbers and
whose correlate lies in the set S of syntactic terms.
Note. Please refer to the following article on Relation Theory
for the definitions of functions and pre‑functions used in the
above discussion.
Relation Theory
https://oeis.org/wiki/Relation_theory
Regards,
Jon