ABSTRACT
Logic classifies arguments. Arguments are signs. Therefore, the classification of arguments is a classification of signs. This is, in a nutshell, the Grundgedanke of Charles S. Peirce's early logical investigations. Peirce advances and defends the claim that logic is symbolistic, i.e., is a study of symbols. The "New List" contains both a derivation of the categories as well as a discussion of their application in logic. Logic's principal business is the classification of arguments. The principle that governs an argument is called by Peirce the "leading principle" of inference. Logical principles differ in kind, and this gives rise to a classification of arguments on the basis of their leading principle. Peirce's initial strategy is to use syllogism. The leading principles of the three classes of inference are therefore "principles of symbolization" (of symbols, indices, and icons). In the tenth Harvard Lecture Peirce says: Inference in general obviously supposes symbolization; and all symbolization is inference.
