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Keeping It Real

Semiotic Practice and Fateful Temporality in William Sewell's Logics of History

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

David Pedersen
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Abstract

This article takes up a central theme in William H. Sewell Jr.'s Logics of History, the relationship between relatively durable structures or systems and the more fleeting and contingent moments of their formation, their reproduction, and occasionally their radical altering. The article seeks to highlight how this tension between generals and particulars lies at the heart of the theoretical and disciplinary divisions that Sewell's book seeks to overcome. Arguing that Sewell's partial reliance on a framework inspired by Ferdinand de Saussure is inadequate for the goals of the book, the article points out that an alternative approach derived from the writings of Charles Sanders Peirce is more in keeping with Sewell's objectives.

Information

Type
Special Section: Logics of History
Information
Social Science History , Volume 32 , Issue 4 , winter 2008 , pp. 567 - 577
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 2008 

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