International Handbook of Semiotics (eBook)

Peter Pericles Trifonas is Professor at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto. His areas of interest include ethics, philosophy of education, cultural studies, literacy, and technology. Among his books are the following: Revolutionary Pedagogies: Cultural Politics, Instituting Education, and the Discourse of Theory, The Ethics of Writing: Derrida, Deconstruction, and Pedagogy, Ethics, Institutions and The Right to Philosophy (with Jacques Derrida), Roland Barthes and the Empire of Signs, Umberto Eco & Football, Pedagogies of Difference, Deconstructing the Machine (with Jacques Derrida), International Handbook of Semiotics, CounterTexts: Reading Culture.

Contents 6
Contributors 12
Chapter-1 15
Apologia 15
Part I 40
Historical and Conceptual Foundations of Semiotics 40
Chapter-2 41
Semiotics “Today”: The Twentieth-Century Founding and Twenty-First-Century Prospects 41
2.1 Preliminary Overview 41
2.2 Outline of the Framework 43
2.2.1 Standpoint of the Chapter 43
2.2.2 Synchrony’s Inevitable Seepage into Diachrony: The Historicity of Human Use of Signs 45
2.2.3 The Nominalist Question 47
2.2.4 The Actual Formation of a “Community of Inquirers” Focused on Signs 49
2.3.1 The Initial Foundation Proposed in the Twentieth Century for a New “Science of Signs” 50
2.3.2 The Challenge to Saussure’s Stipulative Foundation 53
2.3.3 Shifting the Semiotic Enterprise to an Adequate Foundation 55
2.3.4 Remodeling Anthroposemiosis as the Human Use of Signs 56
2.3.5 Furthering the Foundation: An Action of Signs Beyond the Animal Umwelt 57
2.3.6 The Place of Peirce, After Poinsot, in Displacing the Pars Pro Toto Fallacy 58
2.3.7 Setting the Record Straight on What Semiotics Is All About 61
2.3.8 “Science” or “Doctrine” of Signs? 62
2.3.9 Does the Action of Signs Reach Even Beyond the Land of the Living? 64
2.3.10 Semiotics in the Twenty-First Century’s Dawn: Sebeok’s Shaping Role 66
2.3.11 After Sebeok and Beyond: Completing the Compass of Semiotic Understanding 70
2.4 Projecting What We Have Learned About Interdisciplinarity: From 330 BC to c. AD 2075 74
2.4.1 Tracing from Within the Present a Long Trajectory 76
2.4.2 The Triangle of Words, Thoughts, and Things 78
2.4.3 Premodern Background to Understanding the Triangle 78
2.4.4 Modern Attempts to Semanticize the Triangle 80
2.4.5 Aristotle’s Caveat on the Need to Understand the Triangle Through “An Investigation Distinct” from Inquiries into Logic and Language 80
2.4.6 Causality and the Relationships Within and Constitutive of the Triangle 81
2.4.6.1 Iconic dimension 82
2.4.6.2 Symbolic dimension 82
2.4.6.3 Indexical dimension as underlying 82
2.4.6.4 Entanglement in language of culture with nature 83
2.4.6.5 Primary modeling is not “langue” 83
2.4.6.6 Diachrony preceding and succeeding “langue’s” synchrony 84
2.4.7 Brief Excursus on “Deconstruction” 85
2.4.8 The Relationships Within and Constitutive of the Triangle 88
2.4.8.1 The triangle side #1 between words and things 89
2.4.8.2 “Common sense” and Saussure’s model 90
2.4.8.3 Other-representation vs. self-representation 91
2.4.8.4 “Common sense” again 91
2.4.8.5 The hidden third 92
2.4.8.6 The triadic relation 92
2.4.8.7 “Common speech” vs. “Langue ” 93
2.4.8.8 The triangle side #2 between words and things 93
2.4.8.9 Experience presupposed to discovering signs 94
2.4.8.10 The ascent from sensation 94
2.4.8.11 Interaction as produing sensation 95
2.4.8.12 Triadicity within sensation 95
2.4.8.13 The triangle side #3 between words and things 96
2.4.8.14 Words as symptoms vs. words as symbols 96
2.4.8.15 The symptom side 96
2.4.8.16 The symbol side 96
2.4.8.17 Words as manifesting subjectivity 97
2.4.8.18 Words as aiming to establish intersubjectivity 97
2.4.8.19 The required “other science” 98
2.4.8.20 Umwelt species-specifically human = Lebenswelt 98
2.4.8.21 Culture is to nature as a web is to a spider 99
2.4.8.22 Jakobson’s debate point 99
2.4.8.23 Lotman’s summation of Jakobson’s point 100
2.4.8.24 Origins of the web in linguistic communication 100
2.4.8.25 “Alterius Est Enim Negotii”: Exactly What is the Presupposed “Investigation Distinct” from 101
2.4.9 The Need for Intrinsic (Not Ad Hoc) Interdisciplinarity at the Curricular Core of University Studies 102
2.4.10 Triad in Contrast to Triangle 104
2.4.11 Aristotle’s Triangle of Triads 108
2.5 Parting Summation 109
Appendix: Sebeok’s Synthesis (the Tartu–Bloomington–Copenhagen School) 110
References 111
Chapter-3 126
Maps, Diagrams, and Signs: Visual Experience in Peirce’s Semiotics 126
References 134
Chapter-4 135
Semiotics as an Interdisciplinary Science 135
4.1 Introduction 135
4.2 Case 1: The Immune System and the Semiotics of Recognition 136
4.3 Case 2: From Collected Intelligence to Collective Intelligence 138
4.4 Case 3: Group Dynamics 141
4.5 Conclusions 142
References 143
Chapter-5 145
The Semiotic Paradigm View of Theoretical Semiotics 145
5.1 Abduction and Explanation 145
5.2 The USST 145
5.2.1 The USST-2000 146
5.2.1.1 Background 146
5.2.1.2 Development of the USST 147
5.2.1.3 Syntactic Considerations 152
5.2.1.4 Pragmatic Considerations 157
5.2.1.5 Semantic Considerations 159
5.2.1.6 Summary 162
5.2.2 Results and Advantages 162
5.2.2.1 Syntactic Results 162
5.2.2.2 Pragmatic Results 164
5.2.2.3 Semantic Results 167
5.2.2.4 Summary 175
5.2.3 Conclusions and Recommendations 175
5.3 The TOS 176
5.3.1 Background 176
5.3.2 Factoring the Sentence 177
5.3.3 Factoring the Mood 178
5.3.4 General Semiotic Factorization 179
5.3.5 Theory of Operational Semiotics 181
5.3.6 Words to World Flag 183
5.3.7 Theory of Intention, Intentionality, and FEMs 184
5.3.8 Boundary Conditions 186
References 187
Chapter-6 191
Visions of the Other and Free Indirect Speech in Artistic Discourse: Bakhtin, Pasolini, and Deleuze 191
6.1 Free Indirect Speech 191
6.2 Utterance Syntax and Free Indirect Discourse 193
6.3 Distance and Participation as Conditions for the Artwork 199
6.4 Image, Writing, De-representation 204
6.5 To Recapitulate 206
References 207
Chapter-7 210
C. S. Peirce and Intersemiotic Translation 210
7.1 Introduction 210
7.2 On Campos’s Notion of Creative Translation 211
7.3 Peirce, Semiosis, and Semiotics 213
7.4 Intersemiotic Translation as an Iconic-Dependent Process 215
7.5 Intersemiotic Translation as Semiosis 216
7.6 Intersemiotic Translation of Gertrude Stein 217
7.7 Some Consequences 221
References 222
Chapter-8 225
Welby’s Significs, Its Developments and International Ramifications 225
8.1 Significs, Its Terminology and Official Recognitions 225
8.2 The Signific Movement in the Netherlands 233
References 240
Part II 244
Language, Literature and Semiotics 244
Chapter-9 245
Crafting the Literature of Semiotic Possibility: From the Metaphysical to the Detective Story in The Name of the Rose 245
9.1 Prologue 245
9.2 Divining Metaphysics: Medieval Sign Theory and the Word of God’s Book 246
9.3 Naming a Palimpsest of Abductions: Intertextuality and the Detective’s Labyrinth 250
9.4 Excursus on Foucauld’s Pendulum: Conspiring to the Structure of Conjecture 255
9.5 The Aesthetics of Textual Production: The Reader’s Role of Detection 259
9.6 Mirroring Dubious Sources of Origin: Playing Chess with the Reader 263
9.7 Postmodern Palimpsest of Mourning or a Labyrinthine Library of Tales 266
9.8 And What of—Possible—Endings? 268
References 269
Chapter-10 271
The Emergence of “Atomodoxy” in Cold War Rhetoric and Science Fiction Narratives: Fear, Threats, and the Duties of Citizenship in an Atomic Age 271
10.1 Narrative Analysis 272
10.2 The Atomodoxy 274
10.3 The Nuclear Desert 279
10.4 Conclusion 283
Bibliography 284
Chapter-11 286
The Semiotics of “Monk” Rehearsals: A Weaving of Two Texts 286
11.1 Peirce’s Sign Typology 287
11.2 The Two Texts of Monk Rehearsals 288
11.2.1 Beginning the Rehearsal 289
11.2.2 The Conducting Text: Elements of Music 289
11.2.3 The Management Text 292
11.3 Conclusion 294
References 295
Chapter-12 296
Deviant Orthography 296
12.1 Introduction 296
12.2 Deviant Orthography 296
12.3 Eye Dialect 297
12.4 Cyberspeak, Netspeak, and Textspeak 298
12.5 Taboo Language 300
12.6 Orthographic Reform 301
12.7 Brand Names 302
12.8 Mistakes 303
12.9 Concluding Remarks 304
References 305
Chapter-13 307
Semiotics of Translation: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Translation 307
13.1 An Introduction 307
13.2 Translation as an Interdisciplinary Act of Communication 308
13.3 Semiotics and Translation: Definitions and Propositions 309
13.4 Proponents of the Semiotic Approach to Translation 311
13.5 Typologies of Translation with a Semiotic Background 313
13.6 The Schools of Semiotics of Translation Today 314
13.7 Research Fields of the Semiotics of Translation 318
13.8 Conclusive Remarks 320
13.9 In Lieu of a Conclusion 321
References 321
Chapter-14 325
Inter-semiotic Translation and Transfer Theory in Cinematic/Audiovisual Adaptations of Greek Drama 325
14.1 Introduction 325
14.2 From Theatre to Cinema 326
14.2.1 Inter-semiosis in Film Adaptation 327
14.3 Greek Drama into Cinema 328
14.3.1 The Cinematic Greek Drama as Cultural Capital 329
14.3.2 Inter-semiosis in Michael Cacoyannis 329
14.3.3 Pasolini’s Cultural Transfers 331
14.3.3.1 Transferring Myth into Actuality 333
14.3.3.2 Narrative Sections 335
14.3.3.3 Translation Techniques 335
14.4 From Inter-semiotic to Inter/Intra-Lingual 336
14.5 Conclusion 339
References 340
Part III 343
Media, Communications, and Semiotics 343
Chapter-15 344
The Brand as an Economic Value and a Sign: Positioning as an Instrument for Creating Market Distinctions 344
15.1 Introduction 344
15.2 Value/Sign 346
15.3 Positioning and Brand Communication 351
15.4 Practical Application of the Positioning Theory 360
15.5 General Conclusions 366
15.6 Appendix 1 368
15.7 Appendix 2 369
References 369
Chapter-16 372
Understanding the Codes and Assumptions of New Media 372
16.1 Understanding the Codes and Assumptions of New Media 372
16.2 New Media and the Meaning of Style 372
16.3 Identity and New Media 374
16.4 New Media Hiding in Plain Sight 375
16.5 The New Telephone 376
16.6 The Big Sleep: Telephone Lies, Identity, Time and Space 377
16.7 The Codes and Assumptions of New Media 378
References 379
Chapter-17 380
The Semiotics of Innovation 380
17.1 Introduction: An Epiphany on the Semiotics of Innovation 380
17.2 The Semiotics of Buzz 381
17.3 The Semiotic Ideology of Novelty 383
17.4 A Double-Edged Approach on Innovation 384
17.5 Towards a General Semiotics of Innovation 385
17.6 A Case Study: Cultural Heritage in Europe 388
Bibliography 390
Chapter-18 392
Multimodal Digital Humanities 392
18.1 Introduction 392
18.2 The Multimodal Semiotic Approach 394
18.3 Multimodal Digital Humanities Research 395
18.3.1 Close Multimodal Analysis of Documents, Images, and Videos 395
18.3.1.1 Multimodal Analysis Image Software 397
18.3.1.2 Multimodal Analysis Video Software 398
18.3.2 Mathematical and Computational Techniques for Analysis of Multimodal Data 400
18.3.3 Automated Analyses for Mapping Cultural Patterns and Trends 405
18.3.3.1 Vogue Covers 405
18.3.3.2 Photo-Taking Tendencies 407
18.3.3.3 Flickr Images of Santa Claus 408
18.3.4 Japanese Street Fashion 410
18.3.4.1 Social Media: Twitter, Instagram, and Foursquare 411
18.3.5 Multimodal Literacy and Twenty-First-Century Competencies 414
18.4 Conclusion 415
References 416
Chapter-19 419
Semiotics of Photography: The State of the Art 419
19.1 A Short History of Photographic Semiotics 420
19.1.1 Some Issues of Barthesian Semiotics 421
19.1.2 Some Uses of Photography: Publicity 423
19.1.3 Some Uses of Photography: News Photographs 425
19.1.4 From Propaganda to Pornography 426
19.1.5 The Nature of Photography: Lindekens 428
19.1.6 Photographic “Language” and the Barthesian Paradox 430
19.1.7 The Photograph as an Indexical Sign 436
19.1.8 Floch and the Case Against Photographic Specificity 438
19.1.9 The Semiotics of Photography in Later Years 442
19.2 Beyond Indexicalism in Photographic Semiotics 443
19.3 The Nature/Culture Debate in Photography 445
19.3.1 Introduction to a Theory of Traces: Aspects of Indexicality in the Work of Vanlier 452
19.3.2 From the General Theory of Indexicality to the Photographic Index: A Critique of Dubois 462
19.3.3 The Imprint of a Likeness: Reflections on Schaeffer’s Theory 469
19.4 Conclusions 480
Bibliography 480
Chapter-20 486
The Semiotics of the Mass Media 486
20.2 The Origins of Scientific Media Study 487
20.3 The Advent of Media Semiotics 491
20.4 Structuralism 493
20.5 Post-Structuralist Approaches 494
20.6 Simulacra 497
20.7 Overall Perspective 499
References 500
Chapter-21 504
Problems of Contemporary Architectural Graphics 504
References 518
Part IV 520
Biosemiotics 520
Chapter-22 521
Introduction to Biosemiotics 521
22.1 History of Biosemiotics Viewed from Afar 523
22.2 History of Biosemiotics Seen Up Close 525
22.3 Semiotics and Physics, Rules (Relations) and Laws 526
22.4 The Biosemiotic Understanding 528
References 531
Chapter-23 534
Oikos: The Sign of Nature 534
23.1 Nature as Sublime 536
23.2 Nature as Standing Reserve 536
23.3 Nature as Park 537
23.4 Symbolic Value of Nature 539
23.5 At ‘Home’ with Nature—The Human Spirit 540
23.6 Nature and Our Sense of Self 540
23.7 Urbanization, Re-urbanization and Nature in Balance 541
23.8 The Economics of Nature 542
23.9 Nature as a Source of Sustenance 543
23.10 Moving Forward 543
Reference 544
Chapter-24 546
Waves of Semiosis. Is It about Time? On the Semiotic Anthropology of Change 546
References 560
Chapter-25 564
Embodied Signs: Expanding Representations Through and with Bodies 564
25.1 Representation Through Bodies 564
25.2 Play: Representation with Bodies 566
25.3 Future Directions 569
References 569
Chapter-26 572
Face as a Sign and Paolo Mantegazza’s Theory of Metoposcopy 572
26.1 Face Before Mantegazza: A Natural and Cultural Sign 572
26.2 Aristotle on the Face-Sign 574
26.3 Centre as a Cultural Sign 576
26.4 Mantegazza’s Interpretation of the Face-Sign 577
26.5 The Origins of Mantagazza’s Metoposcopy 578
26.6 Mantegazza Versus Darwin 578
26.7 Mantagazza’s Interpretation of the Face-Sign and Philosophy of Eudemonism 583
Bibliography 587
Chapter-27 588
Feeling and Meaning: A Unitary Bio-Semiotic Account 588
27.1 Claims and Scope 588
27.2 Is feeling a Kind of Meaning? Or Is It the Other Way Around? 589
27.2.1 Pointers to the Literature 591
27.2.2 Origins and Fundamentals: Feeling 592
27.2.3 Origins and Fundamentals: Meaning 594
27.2.4 Understanding Systems Across Scales 601
27.2.5 How Many Emotions Are There? 605
27.2.6 Evaluations: Meaning and Feeling 609
27.2.7 Chronopaths: Meanings, Feelings, and Media 611
References 613
Chapter-28 616
Preserving Spaces of Uncertainty: Bioremediation, Urbanism and the Sporting Spectacle 616
28.1 Preserving Spaces of Uncertainty: Bioremediation, Urbanism and the Sporting Spectacle 616
28.2 Introduction: The Need for Unstructured Land in Cities 616
28.3 Erasing Histories, Constructing (Another) Bourgeois Haven 619
28.4 Mega-event Re-gentrification/Generation: Stories of a Mega-letdown 623
28.5 The (Pseudo) End: Preserving Spaces of Uncertainty 624
References 625
Chapter-29 627
What Does Your Garden Show? Explorations of the Semiotics of the Garden 627
29.1 In Search of the Good Life: Sacred Groves in Ancient Greece 628
29.2 Medieval Monastic Gardens: Recreating Paradise through Geometry and Divinity 631
29.3 Giardino all’Italiana: The Botanical Expression of Individual and Family Wealth 633
29.4 Baroque Gardens: Displays of Drama, Excess, and Control 635
29.5 The Garden as a Representation of Power and Privilege 638
29.6 Restoring Relations with/in the Garden 640
References 642
Chapter-30 644
Semiotics of Food 644
30.1 Introduction: Why a Semiotics of Food? 644
30.2 Edible Versus Nonedible: From Cultural Materialism to Classificatory Thinking 644
30.3 Food Symbolism and the Structuralist Approach: Claude Lévi-Strauss, Mary Douglas, Roland Barthes, and Pierre Bourdieu 646
30.3.1 From Nature to Culture: Lévi-Strauss and the Analysis of Food Symbolism 646
30.3.2 Mary Douglas: Meals, Drinks, and Religious Taboos 648
30.3.3 Roland Barthes and the “Grammar” of Food 649
30.3.4 Pierre Bourdieu: Food and Social Stratification 650
30.4 The Limits of Structuralism and the Developmental Approach: Goody, Mennell, and Mintz 650
30.4.1 Food as a Language: From Culinary Grammar to Translation Processes 652
30.5 Food and Communication 657
30.6 Food Between Subjectivity and Intersubjectivity: Taste, Commensality, and Roles 658
30.7 Concluding Remarks: Which Semiotics of Food? 661
References 663
Part V 669
Society, Culture, and Semiotics 669
Chapter-31 670
Semiotics of Culture(s): Basic Questions and Concepts 670
31.1 Is Semiotics Necessary to Life? 670
31.2 Which Subject? 673
31.3 Culture or Cultures? 674
31.4 Semiosphere(s) 677
31.5 Formation(s) 681
31.6 Translation(s) 684
References 688
Chapter-32 692
Signs, Language, and Life: Pathways and Perspectives in Augusto Ponzio’s Scientific Research 692
32.1 Between Philosophy of Language and Semiotics 692
32.2 Critical Linguistic Theory, Dialogism, and Interpretation 694
32.3 Reinterpreting the Notions of “Triadism,” “Dialectics,” and “Automatism” 699
32.4 Literary Writing and the Critique of Language, Communication, and Social Programs 704
32.5 Global Semiotics and the Detotalizing Method, a Semioethic Perspective 708
32.6 Philosophical Insights and Political Perspectives for Signs and Life 710
References 715
Chapter-33 719
Even Signs Must Burn: From Semiotics and the Modern City to Jean Baudrillard’s Symbolic Exchange and the Postmodern City 719
33.1 Introduction 719
33.2 Semiotics 721
33.2.1 The Metaphysical Divide: Signifier/Signified of de Saussure 721
33.3 The Metaphysics of Utility: Marx and Harvey 722
33.3.1 Marx 722
33.3.2 David Harvey 724
33.4 Social material semiotics 725
33.4.1 Bridging the gap 725
33.5 Even Signs Must Burn 726
33.5.1 Baudrillard 726
33.6 Hauntology/Spectrology 727
33.6.1 Derrida 727
33.7 Aesthetic, Moral and Cognitive Spacings 729
33.7.1 Bauman 729
33.8 Conclusion: Symbolic Exchange 731
References 733
Chapter-34 735
Musical Performance in a Semiotic Key 735
34.1 Introduction 735
34.2 Semiotic Identity of a Performer: Endo- and Exo-Signs in the Art of Interpreting Music 737
34.3 Gino Stefani’s Theory of Musical Competence as Applied to the Study of Musical Performance 740
34.4 A Theoretical Model for Semiotic Analysis of Musical Performance 746
34.5 Conclusions 750
References 751
Chapter-35 753
Cartosemiotics 753
35.1 Approaches to Recent Research into Cartosemiotics 753
35.2 Jacques Bertin’s Semiology of Graphics 754
35.3 Linguistic Approaches to Cartosemiotics 754
35.4 Peircean Approaches to Cartosemiotics 755
35.5 Maps and Their Objects 756
35.6 The Hybridity of Maps 759
35.7 Modern Maps 759
References 761
Chapter-36 764
From to Semiosis to Semioethics 764
36.1 The Linguistic Approach: Necessity and Limitations 765
36.2 In Search of the Broadest Sense of Sign 769
36.2.1 Was Sebeok’s Final View of Semiosis Coextensive with Life Broad Enough? 769
36.2.2 Semiosis As Indirect Cause No Less Than Condition of Life? 770
36.3 “Rendering Inefficient Relations Efficient” 771
36.3.1 Semiosis as an Influence of the Future 772
36.4 The Transition Within Semiosis to Semioethics 775
36.5 The Semioethic Animal 776
References 777
Chapter-37 783
Seeing “What We See”: Beyond Projection and Representation of Criminality in Mainstream Media 783
37.1 Incarceration and Discrimination in The USA 784
37.2 Media and Representation 786
37.2.1 Media Forms of Representation 786
37.2.2 Media’s Power of Representation 788
37.2.3 Semiotic Urgency in an Era of Racialized, Mass Incarceration 790
37.3 Conclusion 791
References 793
Chapter-38 796
Applied Cultural Semiotics, Interculturality, and Action-Research 796
38.1 Think Tanks and “Top-Down” Research Networks 799
38.1.1 Think Tanks: Definition, Mandate, and Evolution 800
38.1.2 Myth and Reality 801
38.1.3 Think-Tank Networks 802
38.1.3.1 Homogeneous Research Communities 802
38.1.3.2 Methodological Think Tanks 802
38.1.3.3 Heterogeneous Research Communities 803
38.1.3.4 Current Situation 804
38.2 The Concept of Community in “Bottom-Up” Interdisciplinary Research 804
38.2.1 Governance and Social Capital 805
38.2.2 The Social Contract and Knowledge Management in Culturally Diverse Societies 806
38.2.3 Organizational Learning 807
38.2.3.1 Interdisciplinary Research in Communities: Social Action and Power 808
38.2.3.2 Redefining Knowledge from a Local Perspective: Communities of Practice 809
38.3 Questioning the Hypothetico-Deductive Model 810
38.3.1 Macrocognition and Complex Decision Making 810
38.3.2 Creativity, Knowledge, and Technology 811
38.3.3 Interdisciplinarity and Multiculturalism: Innovation, Meaning, and System 813
38.3.3.1 A Systemic and Multidimensional Model for Participatory and Community-Based Action-Research 814
38.3.3.2 Problem Structuring Methods 815
38.3.3.3 Resolving Multidimensional Conflicts 816
38.4 Interdisciplinary Applied Cultural Semiotics 818
38.4.1 Interpretation, Information, and Meaning 819
38.4.2 Lewin and Lotman Revisited: Systemic Approaches to Collective Creativity 820
References 823
Chapter-39 827
Reading the Subject of History: From Semiology to Poststructuralism 827
39.1 The Problematic Reason of History 827
39.2 Text—Context—Language: The Meaning of the Meaning of History 828
39.3 Ideology and History: Interpellating the Subject 829
39.4 Rethinking the Text of Historiography After Semiotics 831
39.5 Where Is History? 832
39.6 The End of History: After Modernism and Postmodernism 833
Bibliography 835
Chapter-40 837
Identity Today and the Critical Task of Semioethics 837
40.1 Responsibility, a Human Prerogative 837
40.2 Otherness, Dialogism, and Intercorporeity: On Sign and Communication Models 839
40.3 The Dialogic Nature of Signs, Interpretation, and Understanding 842
40.4 Subjectivity and Interpretation 845
40.5 Otherness Between Singularity and Interconnectedness 847
40.6 The Extracommunitarian Other 848
40.7 Transcultural Communication, Ideology, and Social Planning 851
40.8 Signs of Difference 854
40.9 Global Communication and Subjectivity: The Critical Task of Semioethics 856
40.10 More Social Symptoms of Globalization: Migration and Unemployment 861
40.11 “The Open Society of Open Selves” 864
40.12 Listening, Hospitality, and Restitution 865
40.13 From Reason to Reasonableness 868
40.14 Redefining Subjectivity 872
40.15 Mother-sense: An A Priori for Subjectivity, Signification, and Critique 875
40.16 Sense and Expression in Sociality 878
40.17 Semioethics and the Humanism of Otherness 879
References 883
Chapter-41 888
The Street: The Ultimate Locus of Political Intervention in Modern Democracy 888
41.1 Human Reality: Institutions as Semiotic Objects 888
41.2 Democracy: A Government of the People for the People 891
41.3 The Street as Locus of Political Intervention 894
41.4 The Portuguese Case 896
41.4.1 The 25th of April Revolution 896
41.4.2 The Role of the Street in the Context of the Present Economic Crisis 898
41.5 Conclusions 901
References 902
Part VI 904
Cybernetics, Systems, and Semiotics 904
Chapter-42 905
Sign Functions in Natural and Artificial Systems 905
42.1 Introduction 905
42.2 Modes of Semiotic Discourse 906
42.3 Sign Functions 907
42.4 Semiotic Systems as Modes of Organization 909
42.5 Semiotics and Information 911
42.6 Basic Semiotic Operations 913
42.7 Purely Syntactic Systems: Computers and Formal Systems 915
42.8 Scientific Models as Perceptual-Predictive Systems 916
42.8.1 The Hertzian Commutation Diagram 917
42.8.2 Semiotics of Scientific Modeling Relations 918
42.8.3 Model State–Transition Structure and the Epistemic Cut 919
42.9 Percept–Action Systems 921
42.9.1 Nonadaptive PerceptAction Systems 923
42.9.2 Functional Boundaries: Epistemic and Control Cuts 924
42.10 Adaptive PerceptAction Systems 925
42.11 Self-Modifying and Self-Constructing PerceptAction Systems 927
42.11.1 Organizational Closure and Functional Autonomy 928
42.11.2 Emergent Novelty, Creativity, and Open-endedness 929
42.12 Neurosemiotics 930
42.12.1 Neural Correlates of Semiotic Operations 930
42.12.2 Sign States and Neural Codes 932
42.13 Neurosemiotics and Neurophenomenology 932
References 933
Chapter-43 938
Semiotic Modeling: A Pragmaticist’s Guide 938
43.1 First, an Ecovian Warning to All Model Makers 938
43.2 Modeling: The Semiophysics of Graphical Space 938
43.3 The Pragmaticist’s Guide to Using Models, Part 1 (See IV for Part II): 943
43.4 The Liberating Function of Models 944
43.5 The Pragmaticist’s Guide to Using Models, Part 2 952
43.6 What Is it That May be Modeled? 961
43.7 The Pragmaticist’s Guide to Using Models, Part 3 962
References 966
Chapter-44 968
Semiotics of Computing: Filling the Gap Between Humanity and Mechanical Inhumanity 968
44.1 Signification 968
44.1.1 Formalization of Semiotics Through Computing 968
44.1.2 Humanistic Design of Computing Through Semiotics 970
44.2 A Survey 970
44.2.1 Semiotics Applied to HCI 973
44.2.2 Semiotics Applied to Software Engineering 975
44.2.3 Semiotics Applied to Programming Languages 976
44.3 Semiotics of Programming 977
44.3.1 Models of Signs 978
44.3.2 Kinds of Signs 981
44.3.3 Systems of Signs 982
44.4 Towards Computational Semiotics 983
44.4.1 Structural Computing Systems 984
44.4.2 Semiotic Engineering Extended 985
44.4.3 Semiotics as an Annotation Theory 985
44.5 Concluding Remarks 987
References 987
Chapter-45 990
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: A Semiotic Analysis of Assassin’s Creed 2 990
45.1 Semiotics and Game Studies 990
45.2 Barthes’ Method 992
45.3 Assassin’s Creed 2 994
45.3.1 Semes 994
45.3.1.1 The Title: Assassin’s Creed 994
45.3.1.2 The Presages of Ezio’s Radical Transformation 995
45.3.2 Actions 996
45.3.2.1 Vieri’s Death 996
45.3.2.2 Verticalness, Horizontalness and Social Control Personified 997
45.3.3 Enigmas 998
45.3.3.1 The Prophecy and Ezio’s Destiny 998
45.3.3.2 Metalepsis: Minerva’s Plan 999
45.3.4 References 1001
45.3.4.1 The Apple 1001
45.3.4.2 Science and Faith 1002
45.3.5 Symbols 1004
45.3.5.1 Assassin’s Creed 2 As a Meta-Game: The Animus Is a Console 1004
45.3.5.2 Assassin’s Creed 2 As a Psychoanalytic Session: The Animus Is a Couch 1006
45.4 Conclusion 1009
Bibliography 1009
Chapter-46 1011
Virtual Worlds as Marketing Environments: The Case of Second Life 1011
46.1 Marketplaces and Metaverses 1013
46.2 Virtual Environments and Business 1013
46.3 Consumerism, Virtual Goods and Social Behaviour in Virtual Worlds 1015
46.4 Real-Life Cash and Linden Dollars 1016
46.5 Virtual Potentials 1018
46.6 Implications in Marketing 1018
46.7 The Matters of Trust in Virtual World Marketing 1019
46.8 Companies, Business and Marketing in Virtual Worlds 1020
46.9 Second Life Economics 1022
References 1023
Part VII 1027
Cognitive Semiotics 1027
Chapter-47 1028
Cognitive Semiotics 1028
47.1 Introduction 1028
47.2 Contributing Fields 1030
47.2.1 Cognitive Semantics 1030
47.2.2 Gestures 1032
47.2.3 Semiotic Development 1032
47.2.4 Biocultural Evolution 1034
47.2.5 The Embodied Mind 1036
47.3 Centers for Cogsem Research 1038
47.3.1 “A Cognitive Approach to Semiosis” 1038
47.3.2 Center for Semiotics (CfS) 1038
47.3.3 Centre for Cognition and Culture (CCC) 1039
47.3.4 Centre for Language, Cognition, and Mentality (LaCoMe) 1040
47.3.5 Centre for Cognitive Semiotics (CCS) 1041
47.4 Characteristics of Cognitive Semiotics 1042
47.4.1 Conceptual–Empirical Loop 1043
47.4.2 Methodological Triangulation 1044
47.4.3 Influence of Phenomenology 1045
47.4.4 Meaning Dynamism 1045
47.4.5 Transdisciplinarity 1046
47.5 Conclusions 1048
References 1049
Chapter-48 1053
Embodied Semiosis: Autistic ‘Stimming’ as Sensory Praxis 1053
48.1 Introduction 1053
48.2 Imagining Autism 1054
48.3 Sensory Periodization 1055
48.4 Stimming Semiosis: In Our Own Language 1058
References 1060
Chapter-49 1063
Heterarchical Semiosis: From Signal Transduction to Narrative Intelligibility 1063
49.1 Introduction 1063
49.2 Signals, Information, Signs, or Representations? 1066
49.3 Semiotic Thresholds and Hierarchies 1070
49.4 Heterarchical Embeddedness: From Signal Transduction to Narrative Intelligibility 1075
49.5 Conclusion 1078
References 1080
Chapter-50 1082
From Semantics to Narrative: The Semiotics of A. J. Greimas 1082
50.1 Discourse and Narrative 1085
50.2 Isotopy 1086
50.3 Function and Actantial Structures 1087
50.4 Conclusion 1088
References 1088
Chapter-51 1091
The Spectator’s Reality: A Revision of Screen Space Aesthetics Through Cognitive Film Semiotics 1091
51.1 Introduction 1091
51.2 Semantic and Pragmatic Limits of the Film Frame 1094
51.3 Aesthetic Factors in the Two-Dimensional Field 1099
51.3.1 Area Orientation: External and Internal Orientation 1099
51.3.2 Size of Objects and Size Constancy 1100
51.3.3 Field Forces Within the Screen 1100
51.3.4 Main Field Forces (Horizontal, Vertical, Diagonal) 1101
51.3.5 Figure–Ground Relationships 1103
51.3.6 Psychological Closure 1103
51.3.7 Vectors 1104
51.4 Conclusion 1105
References 1105
Chapter-52 1107
Semiosis: The Dialectics of Cognition 1107
52.1 Umwelt and Innenwelt: The Subjectivity of Experience 1107
52.2 Meaning as Value 1109
52.3 A Developmental and Evolutive Narrative 1110
52.4 Modelling the Cognitive Process 1112
52.5 The Nature of Human Cognition 1114
References 1118
Chapter-53 1120
Text and Images 1120
53.1 From the Signs of Language to Perception 1121
53.2 Iconicity 1122
53.3 Reading Lexical Signs as Images? 1123
53.4 Semiotics and Pictorial Text: A Question of Articulation 1124
53.5 Visual Intensions and Extensions 1127
53.6 A Semiotic Rendering of Pictorial Aesthetics: Picasso’s Guernica 1129
References 1132
Part VIII 1134
Education and Semiotics 1134
Chapter-54 1135
Becoming a ‘Mythologist’: Barthes’ Mythologies and Education 1135
54.1 Barthes’ Mythologies and Myth Today 1136
54.2 Barthes’ Semiology of Myth 1137
54.2.1 Reading Myth 1139
54.3 Ideology and Bourgeois Myth 1139
54.3.1 Engaging Myth Conceptions 1141
54.4 What Could It Mean to Mythologize? 1142
54.4.1 The Dean’s Speech 1142
54.4.2 The International School in Pechersk 1143
54.4.3 False Debates in Science Education (NOS vs. FOS) 1145
54.4.4 The Rubric 1146
54.5 Conclusion 1146
References 1147
Chapter-55 1149
Edusemiotics and the Language of Images 1149
References 1161
Chapter-56 1164
Semiotics of Western Education 1164
56.1 Education and Society 1164
56.2 Education and Civil Society 1165
56.2.1 Rational Society and Rational Education 1166
56.2.2 Semiotical Perspective 1166
56.3 Postmodern Thinking 1168
56.3.1 Postmodern Education 1169
56.3.2 Semiotical Perspective on Postmodern Education 1170
56.4 Globalized Society and Education 1171
56.4.1 Semiotical Perspective 1172
56.5 Outlook: e-Learning 2.0 1172
References 1173
Chapter-57 1175
Capitalists’ Profitable Virtual Worlds: Roles for Science and Science Education 1175
57.1 Introduction 1175
57.2 Capitalist Hegemony 1176
57.2.1 The Capitalist Societal Zeitgeist 1176
57.2.2 Neoliberal Technoscience 1177
57.2.3 Capitalist Science Education 1181
57.3 Summary and Conclusions 1186
References 1187
Chapter-58 1191
It’s Like You’re a Teacher! A Social Semiotic Analysis of Authority Relations Among High School Mathematics Students 1191
58.1 Social Semiotics and Mathematics Reform 1192
58.2 Vignette 1: Shifting Authority to Students in Mathematics Classrooms 1194
58.3 Vignette 2: Blending School and Workplace Genres 1196
58.4 Discussion 1199
References 1200
Chapter-59 1202
“If You Could See What I See”: The Semiotics of “Invisibility” in Pedagogy and Practice 1202
59.1 Tell Me What Should I See: Introduction 1202
59.2 Flushing Plato’s Cave 1204
59.3 The Invisible and the Invisible: Terms and Scope 1206
59.4 Ouellette: Reflections on Practice 1207
59.5 Faucher: Reflections on Practice 1212
59.6 Semiotic Invisibles 1217
59.7 “That’s the Look”: Conclusions (Ouellette) 1218
59.8 Out of the Sign Regime and into the Borderlands (Faucher) 1220
59.9 A Bifocal Conclusion 1221
References 1223
Chapter-60 1225
A Patriot is Respectful: (Re-)Examining the Architecture of Ideology in Educational Contexts 1225
60.1 Introduction 1225
60.2 Visual Culture: Interpellation, Ideological Inculcation, and Surveillance 1226
60.3 Method 1228
60.3.1 Setting 1228
60.3.2 Data Collection 1229
60.3.3 Data Analysis 1229
60.4 Results 1230
60.4.1 Welcome to Patriot Country 1230
60.4.2 Main Entrance 1230
60.4.3 Student Entrance 1236
60.4.4 The Patriot Gallery 1237
60.5 Discussion 1241
60.5.1 Representation 1241
60.5.2 Orientation 1242
60.5.3 Organization 1243
60.5.4 Limitations and Future Research 1243
References 1244
Chapter-61 1246
The Emergence of Signs in Hands-On Science 1246
61.1 Introduction 1246
61.2 Evolution of Hand Movements 1248
61.2.1 From Ergotic to Epistemic Movements 1249
61.2.2 From Epistemic to Symbolic Movements 1253
61.2.3 From Symbolic Movements to Speech 1255
61.3 Emergence and Evolution of Sign Systems 1257
61.3.1 Immanent Nature of Originary Signs 1258
61.3.2 From Immanent to Transcendent Signs 1259
61.3.3 From Motivated to Arbitrary Signifier–Signified Relations 1261
61.4 Coda 1262
References 1262
Chapter-62 1265
Extending Students’ Semiotic Understandings: Learning About and Creating Multimodal Texts 1265
62.1 Multimodal Social Semiotics 1267
62.2 The Research Context 1268
62.3 Multimodal Orchestration: Doing Semiotic Work 1270
62.3.1 The Local Environment: Visual, Written, and Audio Movie 1270
62.3.2 Endangered Species: Visual, Written, and Audio Movie 1273
62.3.3 The Human Body: Visual and Written Hypertexts 1275
62.4 Conclusion 1278
References 1280