Semiotics

Semiotics ( semeion altgr. σημεῖον, characters ', ' signal ' ), sometimes called the theory of signs, is the science that deals with systems of signs of all types ( eg, picture-writing, gestures, formulas, language, traffic signs ). It is the general theory of the nature, of the origin ( semiosis ) and the use of signs.

Semiotics is a branch of philosophical epistemology, philosophy of science and the philosophy of language and linguistics. It finds application in various intellectual, cultural and social sciences.

• 2.1 Literatursemiotik
• 2.2 Theatersemiotik
• 2.3 aesthetics

• 5.1 General overviews, introductions, handbooks and encyclopedias
• 5.2 History of semiotics
• 5.3 Individual studies

History

While debate continues as to the subject matter of semiotics since ancient times, a separate discipline but develops only with the studies of Charles Sanders Peirce from 1900. Modern Classics of semiotics are also often leading figures in the structuralist linguistics and philosophy, especially Ferdinand de Saussure and Roland Barthes. These theories describe their characters as " semiology ". As before, different approaches are compared.

History: Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern

Even with the pre-Socratics, Sophists and Plato finds semiotic studies. Aristotle summarized them in his logical and rhetorical writings on a first system of semiotics and expanded. He treats the character as a love triangle between the characters themselves ( the spoken word), the signified ( an object ) and an idea in the mind. A spoken word such as " table " calls of that, according to Aristotle in the soul who hears this word, or speaks, the idea of a table out. This idea is in a not further explained by Aristotle image relationship to each designated object. Oral signs (words) are primarily for Aristotle over written characters, as the latter would only refer to verbal sign:

" The spoken words are signs of ideas in the soul and the written words are the signs of spoken words. Just as now the characters are not the same in all people, so also are the words, not all people the same; but the ideas in the speech, the immediate signs are the words that are the same in all people, and just as the objects are the same everywhere, from which these ideas, the images are. "

As Peirce later Aristotle assigns the semiotics into the logic ( Organon).

The term semeiotikon meros ( part semiotic ) referred to in the medicine of the ancient science of symptoms and diagnosis ( Galen, Pseudo- Galen ) and found in some Stoic texts in epistemological contexts use. In Latin translations of Galen is semeiotikon meros reproduced as pars semiotica. In the Thesaurus linguae by Henri Stephanus Graecae (1572 passim ) Semeiotiké is used for this purpose and this explains as that part of medicine which deals with the differences and ( designation ) assets of all the characters.

Character and importance teachings are also found in the Stoics, for example, Diogenes of Babylon. According to him, the utterance of a man is physically and is articulated and expressed through reason. It is different in the animal sounds that are just air, which are brought about by instinct. As intelligible speech (logos) is for him an expression which means something.

Also Epicurean philosophers such as Philodemus of Gadara (c. 110-40 BC) discuss aspects of signs, meanings and their relations, especially analog and inductive relations.

In the scholasticism of semiotics has been given a high priority within the logic. As one of many examples, one can use the theory of signs by Peter Hispanus: The ear perceives sounds. A projecting matched by living beings sound is voice, bell sounds, however, are not voice. Articulable voice (eg 'man' ) can be written as opposed to unartikulierbarer voice. The articulable voice is either useful ( eg human ) or meaningless (eg " bu ", " ba" ). Meaningful voice has conventional meaning (eg 'man' ) or natural importance (eg " the wailing of the sick "). Conventional voice is either uncompounded ( single words ) or assembled (sets). Uncomposed voice are, for example, the verb and the noun, the latter of which either general (eg 'man' ) or Individual (eg " Socrates ") means. In the transition from medieval to modern times, it is, for example, Nicholas of Cusa, which is the theory of signs as fundamental to all knowledge, especially for theology.

The scholastic discussions be continued, such as Pedro da Fonseca ( 1528-1599 ). A native of Lisbon theologian and philosopher John a S. Thomas (1589-1644), also known as John Poinsot, developed in his second major work Cursus Philosophicus an extensive semiotics, in the second ( physical ) part of its logic.

John Locke also says in his Essay Concerning Human Understanding of 1690 by a theory of signs, which he calls Semeiotike.

Term use in the 18th and 19th centuries

In the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, the term semiotics has not been used in its present comprehensive meaning, but also big for predominantly as an auxiliary science of diplomatics ( deed Science ) characters customer. In addition, can be found at this time also use as a medical term.

20th century

Overview

A theory of language and other sign is an integral part of knowledge and scientific theory, elaborated in the different approaches and are represented. Founder of semiotics in the modern sense is Charles Sanders Peirce. In his successor Charles William Morris developed a behaviorist theory of signs, which operates with a distinction between syntactic, semantics and pragmatics. Structuralist linguists and philosophers lay against it based on a different type of method. Your representatives are:

• Roland Barthes
• Louis Hjelmslev
• Roman Jakobson
• Ferdinand de Saussure

Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913)

The - neither clear nor uncontroversial - sign theory de Saussure is considered "basic" and " significant " for the development of modern semiotics (in Europe), more probably for the linguistic ( linguistic ) sign theories that " virtually all " on the bilateral character in should go back to the sense of de Saussure.

De Saussure uses the term ambiguous characters, which also leads to different interpretations raises. On one reading de Saussure the sign only psychologically, not only psychologically, according to another reading.

For a psychological interpretation is the following definition of de Saussure: " The linguistic sign is thus somewhat in the spirit of actually existing, which has two sides: ... [ ... ] These two components are closely related and correspond to each other. [ ... ] I call the connection of the idea to the sound of the character. "

This leads to the pair of opposites: concept ( idea ) - image acoustique ( phonology ), cf detail now: Presentation and phonology.

The concept of the sign of de Saussure is also reproduced such that after him a sign the unit (connection) character form ( signifiant ) and meaning ( signifie, the character content ) is. The relationship between signifiant and signifie konstituiere the character.

This leads to the pair of opposites signifie (character content ) - signifiant ( character expression ).

Instead of signifiant ( character expression character shape ) is in the same sense also of expression side (expression level), instead of signifie (character content ) and content page ( content level) is spoken.

This leads to the following terminological scheme:

The character model of de Saussure is ( meant sometimes critical), among others, as a two-sided (bilateral, dyadic ) and mentalistic qualified. The two-sided character model of de Saussure, in contrast to dreitstelligen ( triadic ) models ( Peirce, see representamen, there particular problems of understanding ) no Artist Ante reference, as opposed to four-digit models, no signifischen ( understood historically see Victoria Lady Welby, systematically especially Georg Klaus ) except quasi- symbolic relation to reality.

Details: Ferdinand de Saussure # theory.

Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914)

Semiotics as the science of signs Peirce is not only the basis of all communication, but also the prerequisite for any form of knowledge, because every thought is that, in characters. The theory does not understand the character as a thing as a static object, but as a three-digit ( triadic ) relation between

" A sign is a thing which serves to convey a knowledge of one other thing that it, as they say, represents or represents. This thing is called the object of the sign. The induced from the character idea in the mind, which is a spiritual sign of the same object, called the interpretant of the sign. "

This threefold relationship is repeated at each level and forms the different types of characters:

A basis for this classification the ontological thesis of three nonconsecutive reducible basic forms each being derived from the basic philosophical categories and can be identified as a possibility, reality and reason. The importance of a character or characters complex can be detected only taking into account all three covers. So Peirce advocates a holistic conception of meaning. Here, the different character types close not " mutually exclusive, but are only aspects of the character process of semiosis, and we call a sign after his dominating each aspect ."

This also applies to arrangement of characters in the main icon, and a symbol index. Heinz Kroehl that applies the semiotic theory to visual communication and she has subjected to empirical testing, therefore, speaks of a " continuum of name possibilities." At the same time, he identifies the next lower level of the triadic relationship:

The success of any communication is decided in relation to the interpretant, the system in which the sign is to be understood. A clarification of achieving these goals will at least another character. If someone asks, for example, which is a pharaoh, the answer is usually: a king in ancient Egypt. But to truly understand what a pharaoh, I need to know the culture, the idea of ​​a god-king must be able to understand. On the other hand, I 'm loaded with connotations that brings the term king in our culture with them. Such cultural knowledge, experiences, and all experiences are part of the meaning. Therefore, two people can never have exactly the same understanding of a thing.

The terms Rhema, Dicent and argument correspond to the traditional classification in term proposition and argument. From this one can derive three main systems with completely different forms of conveying meaning: art, everyday life and science. In the field of art can convey only ways a sign forever; there are no fixed meanings, but only individual interpretations. In everyday life, the characters refer to reality, they have a real object, and a speaker may proceed usually assume that the other understands what is meant. In science, the characters refer to necessities and follow subject-specific rules: terms used must be defined, statements and conclusions is to be proved.

Since the interpretant is always a sign, which can in turn be explained only by a sign, semiosis becomes a principle endless process. In everyday situations, but this occurs often not apparent, because as long as the communication relates to concrete action, this process can be terminated as soon as a consensus on the action is reached.

John Henry: Semiotics as a symbol of process doctrine

The German social philosopher John Henry connects with the word " semiotics " a general, formal theory of " meaning processes." Actual character arising accordingly by means of consciousness full trains. They are not inescapable fact of nature, but require localization in the human character action. With the accent on "consciousness" combines a distinction from biological or other physical information transmission to which also sets U. Eco value. From a " semiotics " as consciousness or sense process doctrine, he distinguishes the evaluation of individual contents, which he called " hermeneutics " assigns the.

Henry postulated due to its first in the social context developed levels of reflection theory four semiotic levels:

Applied and related disciplines

Literatursemiotik

Representatives of Literatursemiotik be partially attributed also the structuralist or formalist. The literatursemiotischen approaches are also very different: Roland Barthes represents a post-structuralist position, from which he emphasizes the ambiguity of a work, while Umberto Eco Barthes ' ​​notion of a boundless openness of the meaning of literary works criticized and reception of literary texts as an interplay of freedom and determinism represents. Firstly, one must have a structure of the text, otherwise " there would be no communication, but only a purely random stimulation of aleatory reactions " (Eco). On the other hand, the reader decide what codes and semantic framework which he should apply to the text, making it significantly influenced the course of his reading process, the continued updating of meanings.

This contrasts with approaches in the tradition of Algirdas Julien Greimas structuralists who wants to reconstruct clearly on the analysis of the various meaningful, hierarchically organized levels of a text, a semantic deep structure.

Theatersemiotik

The Theatersemiotik is a branch of theater studies, which flourished especially in the 1970s and 80s. As an application-oriented theory, it provides, for example, classifications for the performance analysis. The performance is understood as a communication process in which information is channeled through different channels at different levels. Erika Fischer -Lichte, Patrice Pavis and Manfred Pfister are important representatives of the movement.

Aesthetics

The Prague structuralist linguist January Mukařovský introduced the concept of an aesthetic function. When a character performs this function, this rezipiert primarily for its own sake and refers to his own possibility circumstances, particularly on the overall social context of his reception - rather than being just a means of reference to another ( " referential function "). When and how a character the aesthetic function is resolved, though also from the recipients' subject -dependent, but, generally speaking, determined from the aesthetic norm that prevails in a society at the moment of character reception. So cathedrals or buildings can be considered quite an aesthetic point after Mukařovský for us today, but were at the time of their construction far more occupied with a sacral function than with the aesthetic function.

Aesthetic objects are often, for example, by Hans Wollschläger, described as sign systems, which use a different sign system as a support system or as a mold. In the case of literature, this is the complex sign language system.

Important people of semiotics

• Charles Sanders Peirce
• Ferdinand de Saussure
• Roland Barthes
• Jean Baudrillard
• Max Bense
• Jeff Bernard
• Jacques Bertin
• Paul Bouissac
• John Deely
• Jacques Derrida
• Umberto Eco
• Achim Eschbach
• Nelson Goodman
• John Henry
• Louis Hjelmslev
• Jesper Hoffmeyer
• Angelika Karger
• Georg Klaus
• Martin staples
• Julia Kristeva
• Kalevi Kull
• Claude Lévi -Strauss
• Juri Lotman
• Floyd Merrell
• Charles W. Morris
• Winfried Noeth
• Ivo Osolsobě
• Susan Petrilli
• Roland Posner
• David Savan
• Thomas Sebeok
• Jakob Johann von Uexküll
• Eliseo Verón
• Elisabeth Walther- Bense

Russian semiotics:

• Mikhail Bakhtin
• Vyacheslav Ivanov
• Juri Lotman
• Boris Uspensky
• Valentin Woloschinow

Precursor:

• Diogenes of Babylon
• John Locke
• Giordano Bruno
• William of Ockham
• Plato ( in his allegory of the cave )