Why Biosemiotics? An Introduction to Our View on the Biology of Life Itself

Abstract

Towards a Semiotic Biology, pp. 1-21 (2011) No AccessWhy Biosemiotics? An Introduction to Our View on the Biology of Life ItselfKalevi Kull, Claus Emmeche and Jesper HoffmeyerKalevi KullDepartment of Semiotics, University of Tartu, Tiigi 78, 50410 Tartu, Estonia, Claus EmmecheCenter for the Philosophy of Nature and Science Studies, Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Blegdamsvej 17, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark and Jesper HoffmeyerDepartment of Molecular Biology, University of Copenhagen, Denmarkhttps://doi.org/10.1142/9781848166882_0001Cited by:8 PreviousNext AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsRecommend to Library ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail Abstract: This chapter introduces the very idea of a semiotic biology. Here, one needs to know what semiosis, the action of sign, is, and why semiotics, the study of signs processes, provides a strong conceptual toolbox to approach a more complete theoretical biology. Sebeok's thesis that living systems are constituted as sign systems is a key point of departure for the emergent science of biosemiotics. The history of semiotics in the 20th century has been influenced deeply by structuralism in linguistics, and this "semiology" is related to a similar structuralist movement in theoretical biology. This, together with a variety of approaches that emphasize the properties of relation, signification, wholeness and contextuality, can be seen as forerunners to a more fully developed semiotic biology, that sees living creatures not just as passively subjected to universal laws of nature, but also as active systems of sign production, sign mediation and sign interpretation, that harness the physical laws in order to live and sometimes to make a more complex living. Such a biology is not in conflict with present-day biological research, but it promises to be a good guide towards a theoretical biology that does not turn the emergence of life — and with it, meaning and intentionality — into an incomprehensible mystery. Thus, biosemiotics would provide the basis for linking general biology with general linguistics. FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited By 8Plant Art from the Amazon: Tree Performance in the Work of Frans KrajcbergPatrícia Vieira1 November 2021 | Performance Philosophy, Vol. 6, No. 2In the Case of Protosemiosis: Indexicality vs. Iconicity of ProteinsDan Faltýnek and Ľudmila Lacková18 November 2020 | Biosemiotics, Vol. 14, No. 1Against Universalism in Biosemiotic TheoriesClaudio J. Rodríguez H.24 July 2020 | Linguistic Frontiers, Vol. 3, No. 1TranslationAlison Sealey11 February 2019 | Target. International Journal of Translation Studies, Vol. 31, No. 3The Code Model of Biosemiotics and the Fate of the Structuralist Theory of Mental RepresentationMajid Davoody Beni22 November 2016 | Biosemiotics, Vol. 10, No. 1Bohr's Complementarity Framework in BiosemioticsFilip Grygar28 December 2016 | Biosemiotics, Vol. 10, No. 1Germ Cells are Made Semiotically Competent During EvolutionFranco Giorgi and Luis Emilio Bruni23 March 2016 | Biosemiotics, Vol. 9, No. 1A Biosemiotic Body of Law: The Neurobiology of JusticeGail Bruner Murrow and Richard W. Murrow23 November 2012 | International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique, Vol. 26, No. 2 Towards a Semiotic BiologyMetrics History PDF download

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