International Borders and Epistemic Responsibility: A Peircean Approach

How international borders function symbolically within public discourse differs notably from the empirical conditions that obtain in specific border spaces. This discrepancy has deleterious consequences, including border militarization, ecological degradation, and narratives of disorder that promote xenophobia. To respond to this problem and promote epistemic responsibility, this paper draws from C.S. Peirce, whose work on logic and semiotics is well-suited to borders for three reasons. First, borders are constitutively semiotic, logically triadic, and indicative of deeply held normative assumptions within public life. Second, Peirce’s contributions to the logic of relations, metaphysics of continuity, and link between theory and practice facilitate analyses of borders both normatively and descriptively. Third, pairing Peirce with borders yields a clearer understanding of the epistemic dimension of borders, facilitates the embedding of the symbolic significance of borders alongside iconic and indexical forms of signification, and integrates empirical studies of borders with those focused on public discourse.