Signs, Processes and Associations
expression, naturally became the most characteristic of all.
Admitting the arbitrary character of sign, it is impossible to regard the word symbol as a true synonym. The symbol never is wholly arbitrary; it always maintains some more or less direct, natural relationship with the object for which it stands; it has an obvious raison d’être. In the words of de Saussure: “The scales as the symbol of Justice could not be replaced by anything else, for instance, not even by the chariot.”
We inherit our signs, in a way, as truly as we inherit our complexions; and if we take liberties with either it is at the peril of being too well understood. The character of our earliest signs, even down through many generations of them, may be guessed at pleasure. No one supposes that we can define them other than approximately. They have varied according to racial groups; their individualities evolved from the spirit of the hunting pack and the communal necessities of the
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