1. The Introduction of the Distinction and its Uptake The type/token distinction was introduced a little over a century ago by C.S. Peirce, though it has taken on a life of its own since Peirce’s introduction. We’ll begin our discussion with Peirce, as he is often cited as a touchstone in discussions of the distinction and his remarks are still sometimes used to defend particular claims about types and tokens. [ 1 ] Peirce’s discussion (Peirce 1906, 505–6) is surprisingly brief, given its influence. Despite its brevity, the discussion brings out an impressive number of philosophical issues that we will explore in detail. It is worth quoting in nearly complete form: A common mode of estimating the amount of matter in a MS. or printed book is to count the number of words. There will ordinarily be about twenty the s on a page, and of course they count as twenty words.…