Mechanisms, deduction, and semiosis: Charles S. Peirce on "Logical machines"

Abstract

Charles S. Peirce was interested on logical machines developed in the late 19th century and discussed whether they could develop the authentic semiotic processes indispensable for deductive reasoning. Is it possible for machines to have a genuine capacity to carry out inferences? In this paper, Peirce's arguments are analyzed, who argued that deduction cannot be reduced to mechanical factors. To this end, reference will be made to the idea of theorematic reasoning, which is fundamental for mathematical proofs and goes beyond mechanical procedures. The idea of semiosis in Peirce will also be explored, which seems to extend to the organic realm, but not to the artificial inorganic world of machines. Finally, some conclusions will be drawn about Artificial Intelligence from Peirce's semiotic perspective.