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Semiosis and “fragments of history”
…a Sign cannot denote an Object not otherwise known to its interpreter, for the obvious reason that if he does not already know the Object at all, he cannot possess those ideas by means of which alone his attention can be narrowed to the very Object denoted. Every object of experience excites an idea of some sort; but if that idea is not associated ( Read more... ) -
Maritain’s “Sign and Symbol”-part ii
It’s been a whole year since our first look at Maritain’s “Sign and Symbol,” and thus as good a time as any to continue “ransoming the time”-“for the days are evil” (Eph. 5:16).
Regarding what we might call the difference of human animals (which are semiotic) from brute animals (which are semiosic only), Maritain speaks thus:- The birth of the idea
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Deely’s “Brief Excursus on ‘Deconstruction’”
Deconstruction is a project to which any and very text is thus (indeed!) a-priori liable. But, what needs to be noticed-and what seems constantly to escape the notice of deconstructionist epigones-is that the ultimate source of the passions in the environmental interaction (both cultural and physical) of human animals with material surroundings ( Read more... ) -
On the semiotics of two recent controversies concerning America’s view of Islam
Dean Rader’s recent semiotic commentaries on the Cordoba controversy and Terry Jones’ (former) intentions to burn copies of the Qur’an-two issues that have received widespread media attention in the past several weeks-underscore that what is at issue as these events are unfolding is not mere physical, mind-independent reality, but reality as ( Read more... ) -
John Searle on written language as constitutive of civilization
Here’s a Youtube of philosopher John Searle describing how written language both enables and constitutes human civilization (in contrast to nonhuman and primitive human animal societies). -
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Interesting discussion:
http://www.semioticon.com/semiotix/2010/07/editorial-a-sleeping-beauty/ -
For the skeptics: The significance of John Deely
Paul Cobley, The Routledge Companion to Semiotics (ed. Cobley, 2010), pp. 203-4:- While Peirce is acknowledged as the greatest American philosopher, John Deely (b. 1942), in his wake, is arguably the most important living American philosopher and is the leading philosopher in semiotics. An authority on the work of Peirce and a major figure in both
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Let us suppose that I have a piece of paper, written on it is the phrase 'The experience of the colour red', and I have asked you if this piece of paper is having the experience of the colour red ( Read more... )
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