Semiotics Continues to Astonish: Thomas A. Sebeok and the Doctrine of Signs

Published by De Gruyter Mouton 2011

Semiotics Continues to Astonish

Thomas A. Sebeok and the Doctrine of Signs

Edited by: Paul Cobley , John Deely , Kalevi Kull and Susan Petrilli

Volume 7 in the series Semiotics, Communication and Cognition [SCC]

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110254389

Overview
Contents

About this book

Peirce's (1906) proposal that the universe as a whole, even if it does not consist exclusively of signs, is yet everywhere perfused with signs, is a thesis that better than any other sums up the life and work of Thomas A. Sebeok, "inventor" of semiotics as we know it today.

Semiotics - the doctrine of signs - has a long and intriguing history that extends back well beyond the last century, two and a half millennia to Hippocrates of Cos. It ranges through the teachings of Augustine, Scholastic philosophy, the work of Peirce and Saussure. Yet a fully-fledged doctrine of signs, with many horizons for the future, was the result of Sebeok's work in the twentieth century. The massive influence of this work, as well as Sebeok's convening of semiotic projects and encouragement of a huge number of researchers globally, which, in turn, set in train countless research projects, is difficult to document and has not been assessed until now. This volume, using the testimonies of key witnesses and participants in the semiotic project, offers a picture of how Sebeok, through his development of knowledge of endosemiotics, phytosemiotics, biosemiotics and sociosemiotics, enabled semiotics in general to redraw the boundaries of science and the humanities as well as nature and culture.

Author / Editor information

Paul Cobley, London Metropolitan University, UK; John Deely, University of St. Thomas, Houston, USA; Kalevi Kull, University of Tartu, Estonia; Susan Petrilli, University of Bari, Italy.

Reviews

"As an overview of the current status of semiotic understanding, and as a
personal introduction to Thomas A. Sebeok for those unable to meet him prior to his death in 2001, the volume is indispensable. "The dynamic of semiotics is immense in scope," writes Sebeok "seemingly all-encompassing" (1986: x). Since, as Deely brings to our attention (134), even experienced objects presuppose signs, to neglect semiotics is no mere rejection of culture-bound speculation. Thanks in large part to Sebeok's contributions, human understanding now has a viable (and congruent) way to bridge the chasm between nature and culture."
Jamin Pelkey in: Linguist List 23.733

Topics

Frontmatter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	I
Contents Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	IX
Chapter 1: Introduction: Thomas A. Sebeok: Biography and 20th century role Paul Cobley, John Deely, Kalevi Kull and Susan Petrilli Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I. Essays
Chapter 2: Tackling Tom, lumper and splitter par excellence Myrdene Anderson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
Chapter 3: When anecdotes are no longer what they used to be Lisa Block de Behar Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
Chapter 4: Ethology and the Sebeokian way from zoosemiotics to cyber(bio)semiotics Søren Brier Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	41
Chapter 5: Sebeok’s panopticon Paul Cobley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
Chapter 6: The semiotic foundations of knowledge: Remembering Thomas A. Sebeok Marcel Danesi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
Chapter 7: Thomas A. Sebeok and semiotics of the 21st century John Deely Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
Chapter 8: Traduttore traditore? Dinda L. Gorlée Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
Chapter 9: Astonishing life Jesper Hoffmeyer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	191
Chapter 10: Semiotics, biology, and the adaptionist theory of literature and the arts Jørgen Dines Johansen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	207
Chapter 11: The architect of biosemiotics: Thomas A. Sebeok and biology Kalevi Kull Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	223
Chapter 12: Tom’s often neglected other theoretical source floyd merrell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	251
Chapter 13: We got to know his method Ivan Mladenov Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	281
Chapter 14: About a master of signs starting from The Sign & Its Masters Susan Petrilli Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	293
Chapter 15: A Tribute to Thomas A. Sebeok Susan Petrilli and Augusto Ponzio Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	307
Chapter 16: Thomas A. Sebeok, Hybrid Joke-teller Augusto Ponzio Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	331
Chapter 17: Thomas A. Sebeok, A portrait of a Finnougrian semiotician Eero Tarasti Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	343
Chapter 18: Sebők Tamás – Identity and integrity Vilmos Voigt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	355
Chapter 19: Birth of a notion W. C. Watt Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	365
Chapter 20: Thomas A. Sebeok: On semiotics of history and history of semiotics Brooke Williams Deely Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	371
Part II. Vignettes and stories
Chapter 21: Ubiquity Lisa Block de Behar Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	421
Chapter 22: Un Sacco di Cane Paul Cobley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	425
Chapter 23: Tom Sebeok, Hoosier Donald Cunningham Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	427
Chapter 24: Tom Sebeok, the man who loved time John Deely Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	431
Chapter 25: Brief encounters with Thomas A. Sebeok Mariana Neţ Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	435
Chapter 26: Speaking and writing about Thomas A. Sebeok – This is a way of thinking Maria Popova Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	445
Chapter 27: Summing up: In lieu of an introduction Thomas A. Sebeok Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	451
Part III. Letters
Chapter 28: Anderson letter of 13 May 2002 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	463
Chapter 29: Eco letter of 11 January 2002 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	465
Chapter 30: Hamp letter of 2 January 2002 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	467
Chapter 31: Remak letter of 24 December 2001 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	469
Chapter 32: Watt letter of 5 January 2002 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	471
Part IV. The Tartu connection
Chapter 33: The Tartu connection: Thomas Sebeok’s correspondence with Juri Lotman Tuuli Raudla and Tanel Pern Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	475
Part V. Final resting place
Burial site marker and co-ordinates Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	487
Part VI. Photographs
Twenty-seven pictures Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	491
Notes on contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	504
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	515

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Mouton
Audience: Institutional Libraries, Students and Researchers of Semiotics, Communication Studies, Cultural Studies, Media Studies, the Humanities, Social Sciences
Pages
- Front matter: 12
- Main content: 526
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 43
- Tables: 3
- Other: frontispiece
Keywords: Semiotics; Communication

eBook

Published: July 27, 2011
ISBN: 9783110254389

Hardcover

Published: July 18, 2011
ISBN: 9783110253191