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which has no end, admirably certainly has a prominent aspect which well illustrates the mode of being of Thirdness, which I have sometimes called the esse in futuro. Every Thirdness consists in the truth that something will be brought about, if the conditions present themselves. A graph, or speech, has no real meaning unless it will influence conduct. The manner in which the future influences the present also erves to make the mode of being of Thirdness clearer. The first step of the process of that influence is that we make a forecast, which at the outset is a mere suggestion, the resultant of various mental habits acting on perceptions and memories. “Yes,” objects somebody; “that is just it. It is
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it is an idea of which Firstness, Secondness, and Thirdness are component parts, since the distinction depends on whether the two elements of Firstness and Secondness that are united are so united as to be One or whether they remain Two. This distinction between two kinds of Seconds, which is almost involved in the very idea of a Second, makes a distinction between two kinds of Secondness; namely, the Secondness of Genuine Seconds, or matters, which I call genuine Secondness, and the Secondness in which one of the seconds is only a Firstness, which I call degenerate Secondness; so that this Secondness really amounts to nothing but this, that a subject, in its being a Second, has a Firstness, or quality. It is to be remarked that this distinction arose from attending to extreme cases; and consequently subdivision will be attached to it according to the more or less essential or accidental nature of the Genuine or the Degenerate Secondness. With this distinction Thirdness has nothing to do, or at any rate has so little to do that a satisfactory account of the distinction need not mention Thirdness.
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the forecast that influences us, itself the result of past perceptions and habits, and the future as fact, contradistinguished from the mere representation of it, does not influence us in the least.” To which I reply, “My dear sir, you say you agree with my remark, and in my turn I fully assent to yours. The future, as fact, naturally does not influence us; because a fact, factum, is what has been is already done; and the future is not a fact at all. But that is not to say that it has no reality, unless you are determined to shut your eyes to every category but Secondness. The future has a present, real being which consists in the present certainty of its destined
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I will just mention that among Firstnesses, there is no distinction of the Genuine and the Degenerate, while among Thirdnesses we find not only a Genuine but two distinct grades of Degeneracy.
But now I wish to call your attention to a kind of distinction which affects Firstness more than it does Secondness, and Secondness more than it does Thirdness. This distinction arises from the circumstance that where you have a triplet ∴ you have 3 pairs; and where you have a pair, you have 2 units. Thus, Secondness is an essential part of Thirdness though not of Firstness, and Firstness is an Essential element of both Secondness and Thirdness. Hence there is such a thing as the Firstness of Secondness and such a thing as the Firstness of Thirdness; and there is such
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coming to pass. This certainty, like all certainty, is of the nature of a representation sign. It is not, however, a certainty in our minds. It is certainty in the nature of things. It is an eternal law to which the events of the universe really will conform. It is this certainty, this law which in pervading the whole universe, and in thus pervading our mental natures with the rest, enables us, no matter by what machinery, to make our guess. Your objecting,— I continue in reply, your objecting, which is the only element of what you say that I find to object to, is due to your bad habit of thinking that there are no realities but facts, thus overlooking these realities which alone impart to facts any significance. You must become as