Semiosis and the elusive final interpretant of understanding
Sonesson, Göran LU
(2010)
In Semiotica
179(1-4).
p.145-258
- Abstract
- While the conceptual history of the sign, as recounted by John Deely in Four ages of understanding, is immensely enlightening, history is never enough. If, before Augustine, it had occurred to no one that such diverse phenomena as are covered by this term had something in common, and if, in the time of Aquinas, Fonseca, and Poinsot, different usages of the term were in competition, the reason is not simply intellectual confusion, but rather that meaning is of many kinds. In this essay, I have shifted the terrain from socio-history to phylogeny and ontogeny, suggesting that, in the child, as well as in the human species, perception is the primary type of meaning, whereas true signs are acquired much later, followed by signs systems and... (More)
- While the conceptual history of the sign, as recounted by John Deely in Four ages of understanding, is immensely enlightening, history is never enough. If, before Augustine, it had occurred to no one that such diverse phenomena as are covered by this term had something in common, and if, in the time of Aquinas, Fonseca, and Poinsot, different usages of the term were in competition, the reason is not simply intellectual confusion, but rather that meaning is of many kinds. In this essay, I have shifted the terrain from socio-history to phylogeny and ontogeny, suggesting that, in the child, as well as in the human species, perception is the primary type of meaning, whereas true signs are acquired much later, followed by signs systems and organism-independent artifacts. The whole point of having a semiotic theory, it is argued, is to be able to account for the differences, and not only the similarities, of different kinds of meaning. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1630247
- author
- Sonesson, Göran
LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2010
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- psychology, ecological, phenomenology, Umwelt, picture, sign, intentionality
- in
- Semiotica
- volume
- 179
- issue
- 1-4
- pages
- 145 - 258
- publisher
- De Gruyter
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000278904700009
- scopus:77951583065
- ISSN
- 0037-1998
- DOI
- 10.1515/semi.2010.023
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 9f1aebc2-b19e-43ee-ad1f-f15364e08eb7 (old id 1630247)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 14:52:10
- date last changed
- 2023-11-13 13:29:42
@article{9f1aebc2-b19e-43ee-ad1f-f15364e08eb7,
abstract = {{While the conceptual history of the sign, as recounted by John Deely in Four ages of understanding, is immensely enlightening, history is never enough. If, before Augustine, it had occurred to no one that such diverse phenomena as are covered by this term had something in common, and if, in the time of Aquinas, Fonseca, and Poinsot, different usages of the term were in competition, the reason is not simply intellectual confusion, but rather that meaning is of many kinds. In this essay, I have shifted the terrain from socio-history to phylogeny and ontogeny, suggesting that, in the child, as well as in the human species, perception is the primary type of meaning, whereas true signs are acquired much later, followed by signs systems and organism-independent artifacts. The whole point of having a semiotic theory, it is argued, is to be able to account for the differences, and not only the similarities, of different kinds of meaning.}},
author = {{Sonesson, Göran}},
issn = {{0037-1998}},
keywords = {{psychology; ecological; phenomenology; Umwelt; picture; sign; intentionality}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1-4}},
pages = {{145--258}},
publisher = {{De Gruyter}},
series = {{Semiotica}},
title = {{Semiosis and the elusive final interpretant of understanding}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/semi.2010.023}},
doi = {{10.1515/semi.2010.023}},
volume = {{179}},
year = {{2010}},
}