Semiotics subject to revision

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Semiotics (subject to revision)

• Lecture 1. Introduction
• Lecture 2. History of semiotics
• Lecture 3. The classics of semiotics Peirce,
  Saussure, Morris, Hjelmslev
• Lecture 4. Modern semioticians. Uexkuel, Greimas
• Lecture 5. Sign and meaning
• Lecture 6. Models of the sign. I. Sign and
  reality. Theoretical preliminaries

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Lecture 6. Traditional models of the sign

• Preliminary Revisiting the two historical
  traditions in defining the basic models of the
  sign (triadic and diadic)

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Two basic models of the sign

• Diadic ( two-sided, bilateral, dichotomic) e.g.,
• Historically Epicurean (according to Sextus
  Empiricus)
• Modern Saussure.
• Triadic (trichotomic), e.g.,
• the Stoics, Aristotle
• Modern Peirce.

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Accordingly Views in theories of meaning
Dichotomy View Trichotomy View Early
Plato Late Plato Augustine Aristotle
Stoics John Stuart Mill Bolzano Russell
Frege Donellan Carnap Kripke Evans
Quine Putnam Davidson
http//www.csus.edu/indiv/n/nogalesp/PhilLanguageF
05/Phil154Overheads/HistTheoryMeanDichvsTricho.doc

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The sign model of Saussure

• Diadic (the two-sided). A linguistic sign consist
  of signifier (image acoustique, sound-image) and
  signified (concept). Both are mental (sound-image
  is a psychological imprint of the sound) i.e.
  sign is a mentallistic entity. No referential
  object.
• Semiotic for Beginners. http//www.aber.ac.uk/medi
  a/Documents/S4B/sem02.html

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Contd., diadic sign of Saussure

• For Saussure, both the signifier and the
  signified were purely 'psychological' (Saussure
  1983, 12, 14-15, 66 Saussure 1974, 12, 15,
  65-66). Both were form rather than substance A
  linguistic sign is not a link between a thing and
  a name, but between a concept and a sound
  pattern. The sound pattern is not actually a
  sound for a sound is something physical. A sound
  pattern is the hearer's psychological impression
  of a sound, as given to him by the evidence of
  his senses. This sound pattern may be called a
  'material' element only in that it is the
  representation of our sensory impressions. The
  sound pattern may thus be distinguished from the
  other element associated with it in a linguistic
  sign. This other element is generally of a more
  abstract kind the concept. (Saussure 1983, 66
  Saussure 1974, 66)
• Semiotic for Beginners. http//www.aber.ac.uk/medi
  a/Documents/S4B/sem02.html

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The sign model of Peirce

• Presentations of triads
• Trypod (Figure 1) (R. Marty)
• Representamen
• Interpretant
• Object
• triangle
• Sign vehicle
• Sense
• Referent what the sign 'stands for

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Peirce a sign is thirdness

• Three universal categories of being
• Being is
• 1 firstness
• 2 secondness
• 3 thirdness
• Sign is 3, thirdness.
• Interpretation subjective, phenomen., ...

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Triadism and the universal categories

• ... For example, with regard to the trichotomy
  "possibility," "actuality," and "necessity,"
  possibility he called a first, actuality he
  called a second, and necessity he called a third.
  Again quality was a first, fact was a second,
  and habit (or rule or law) was a third. Again
  entity was a first, relation was a second, and
  representation was a third. Again rheme (by
  which Peirce meant a relation of arbitrary
  adicity or arity) was a first, proposition was a
  second, and argument was a third.
• In Charles Sanders Peirce http//plato.stanford.e
  du/entries/peirce/

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Peircean paradox

• An icon is a sign, 3 (thirdness), but it is
  firstness as well.

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Peircean typology of the signs

• Problems with Peirce http//jameselkins.com/Texts
  /Peirce.pdf

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Other version of the table

• Sign relation. Contemporary discussion.
  http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign_relation

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What is a token, an example

• token
• A particular instance of a word or sign, as
  opposed to the abstract kind or type it
  exemplifies. Thus, for example, the preceding
  sentence is 18 words long (token), but contains
  only 16 words (type), since "a" and "or" are each
  used twice.

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Links

• Triadism and the Universal Categories. In
  Charles Sanders Peirce http//plato.stanford.edu/e
  ntries/peirce/
• Charles S. Peirce. On a New List of Categories.
  Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and
  Sciences 7 (1868), 287-298. http//www.peirce.org/
  writings/p32.html
• Charles S. Peirce. What Is a Sign?
  http//www.ukzn.ac.za/undphil/collier/308/Peirce/W
  hat20Is20a20Sign_.pdf
• Problems with Peirce http//jameselkins.com/Texts
  /Peirce.pdf. Note you are reading an excerpt
  from James Elkins, Visual Culture A Skeptical
  Reader (work in progress). Revised October 12,
  2001.
• Floyd Merrell. Peirce's Basic Classes of Signs in
  a Somewhat Different Vein. http//www.digitalpeir
  ce.fee.unicamp.br/floyd/p-peiflo.htm
• Digital Encyclopedia of Charles S. Peirce.
  http//www.digitalpeirce.fee.unicamp.br/home.htm

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Written assignment (hardcopy)

• Topic formulate your opinion on the sign model
  (aproximately 500 words)
• Compile a text from the internet search results,
  including full bibliographic descriptions of the
  entries. Analyze the text and formulate your own
  opinion on the topic
• Due next week

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Next lecture

• Sign models and reality

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Lecture 7. Sign and reality. Models of the sign.
A theoretical account of the sign

• Ontology as basis for the sign definition.
• What is reality? Approaches in ontology.
• Phenomenology, subjective reality. Being is
• 1,2,3 (Peirce)
• Objective reality.
• Aristotle (naïve objectivity?). Two types of
  being (entia)
• The choice of ontology (ontological commitments?)
• Things (objects), representations (signs),
  subjects
• Constituents of the sign
• How many constituents?
• 0, 1, 2, 3, more?
• What are constituents? (the sign vehicle, sense,
  reference)
• Configurations of the constituents
• What is the relation between the constituents?
• Typology of signs based on the ontological
  approach

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See you next week!
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More on Peircean typology
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• Problems with Peirce http//jameselkins.com/Texts
  /Peirce.pdf

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• Floyd Merrell. Peirce's Basic Classes of Signs in
  a Somewhat Different Vein. http//www.digitalpeir
  ce.fee.unicamp.br/floyd/p-peiflo.htm