Semiotics

Semiotics - also known as semiology - is the study of signs, both individually and grouped in sign systems, and includes the study of how meaning is transmitted and understood. Semioticians also sometimes examine how organisms, no matter how big or small, make predictions about and adapt to their semiotic niche in the world (see Semiosis). Semiotics theorises at a general level about signs, while the study of the communication of information in living organisms is covered in biosemiotics.

Some important semioticians

Peirce

Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914), founder of the philosophical school of pragmatism and a notable logician, conceived of semiotics as "the doctrine of the essential nature and fundamental varieties of possible semiosis" where he defines semiosis as "an action, or influence, which is, or involves, a cooperation of three subjects, such as a sign, its object, and its interpretant ..." ('Pragmatism', Essential Peirce 2:413, 2:411, 1907). Peirce revised his view of semiosis throughout his career, beginning with this triadic relationship and ending with a system consisting of 59,049 possible elements and relationships. One reason for this high figure is that Peirce allowed each interpretant to act as a sign, creating a new signifying relationship.

Related Topics:
Charles Sanders Peirce - 1839 - 1914 - Pragmatism - Logician - Interpretant

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Saussure

Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913), the "father" of modern linguistics, proposed a dualistic notion of signs, relating the signifier as the form of the word or phrase uttered, and to the signified as the mental concept. It is important to note that, according to Saussure, the sign is completely arbitrary, i.e. there was no necessary connection between the sign and its meaning. This sets him apart from previous philosophers such as Plato or the Scholastics, who thought that there must be some connection between a signifier and the object it signifies. Saussure's insistence on the arbitrariness of the sign has also greatly influenced later philosophers, especially postmodern theorists such as Jacques Derrida, Roland Barthes, and Jean Baudrillard.

Related Topics:
Ferdinand de Saussure - 1857 - 1913 - Linguistics - Scholastic - Postmodern - Jacques Derrida - Roland Barthes - Jean Baudrillard

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Hjelmslev

Louis Trolle Hjelmslev (1899 - 1965) developed a structuralist approach to Saussure's theories. His best known work is Prolegomena: A Theory of Language, which was expanded in Resumée of the Theory of Language, a formal development of glossematics, his scientific calculus of language.

Related Topics:
Louis Trolle Hjelmslev - 1899 - 1965

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Morris

Charles W. Morris (1901–1979) achieved recognition for his Foundations of the Theory of Signs. He proposed to divide semiotics into syntactics, semantics and pragmatics.

Related Topics:
Charles W. Morris - 1901 - 1979

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Eco

Umberto Eco made a wider audience aware of semiotics by various publications, most notably A Theory of Semiotics and his novel The Name of the Rose which includes semiotic elements. His most important contributions to the field regard the concepts of interpretation, encyclopedia, and model reader.

Related Topics:
Umberto Eco - The Name of the Rose

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Greimas

Algirdas Julius Greimas developed a structural version of semiotics named generative semiotics, trying to shift the focus of discipline from signs to systems of signification. His theories develop the ideas of Saussure, Louis Hjelmslev, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty.

Related Topics:
Algirdas Julius Greimas - Saussure - Louis Hjelmslev - Claude Lévi-Strauss - Maurice Merleau-Ponty

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Sebeok

Thomas A. Sebeok was one of the most prolific and wide-ranging of American semioticians. Though he insisted that animals are not capable of language, he expanded the purview of semiotics to include non-human signaling and communication systems, thus raising some of the issues addressed by philosophy of mind and coining the term zoosemiotics. Sebeok insisted that all communication was made possible by the relationship between an organism and the environment it lives in. He also posed the equation between semiosis (the activity of interpreting signs) and life.

Related Topics:
Thomas A. Sebeok - Philosophy of mind - Zoosemiotics

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Lotman

Juri Lotman 1922 - 1993 was the founding member of the Tartu (or Tartu-Moscow) Semiotic School. He developed a semiotic approach to the study of culture and established a communication model for the study of text semiotics. He also introduced the concept of the semiosphere.

Related Topics:
Juri Lotman - 1922 - 1993 - Tartu - Semiosphere

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