Abstract:

  In the argument offered by Philosophical Semiotics, the indexical relation between the representamen and the object takes on a special place. Though the index is listed by Charles Sanders Peirce as a sign of Secondness, indexicality, actually the most preexperiential is in fact the most fundamental and primary motivation. Evidence could be drawn from three fields: from the comparison between animals and human beings; from children’s meaning activities; from indexicals in languages. The order of semiotic motivations suggested by Peirce should be questioned, as it is by no means beyond challenge that iconicity should be the Firstness.

Key words:  Semiotics, indexicality, indexicals, the First, Firstness