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The last half century has produced an increasing interest in semiotics, the study of signs. As an interdisciplinary field, moreover, semiotics has produced a vast literature from many different points of view. As the discourse has expanded, clear definitions and goals become more elusive. Semioticians still lack a unified theory of the purposes of semiotics as a discipline as well as a comprehensive rationale for the4 linking of semiosis at the levels of culture, society, and nature. As Deely suggests in his preface, the image of the modern semiotic universe is the same as that of astronomy in 1611 as suggested by John Donne: "Tis all in pieces, all coherence gone; / All just supply, and all Relation." This short, cogent, philosophically oriented book outlines and analyzes the basic concepts of semiotics in a coherent, overall framework.
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cover title: author: publisher: isbn10 | asin: print isbn13: ebook isbn13: language: subject publication date: lcc: ddc: subject: Basics of Semiotics Advances in Semiotics Deely, John N. Indiana University Press 0253205689 9780253205681 9780585099743 English Semiotics. 1990 P99.D398 1990eb 401/.41 Semiotics. cover BASICS OF SEMIOTICS cover-0 ADVANCES IN SEMIOTICS Thomas A. Sebeok, General Editor cover-1 BASICS OF SEMIOTICS John Deely file:///I|/...F2%F0%F3%EA%F2%F3%F0%E0%EB%E8%E7%EC/Deely%20-%20Basics%20of%20Semiotics/files/__joined.html[14.08.2010 19:45:50] cover INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS Bloomington & Indianapolis cover-2 ©1990 by John Deely All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses' resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984. Manufactured in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Deely, John N. Basics of semiotics / John Deely p. cm.(Advances in semiotics) Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-253-31676-6 (alk. paper). - ISBN 0-253-20568-9 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Semiotics. I. Title. II. Series. P99.D398 1990 401'.41dc20 8945354 CIP 3 4 5 6 96 95 cover-3 This book is dedicated to Brooke Williams who edited the whole raising questions as she often answers them like bursts of light and Ralph Austin Powell who made the whole theoretically possible and before that best taught me how to philosophize cover-4 file:///I|/...F2%F0%F3%EA%F2%F3%F0%E0%EB%E8%E7%EC/Deely%20-%20Basics%20of%20Semiotics/files/__joined.html[14.08.2010 19:45:50] cover CONTENTS Preface Thematic Epigraphs ix xvii 1. LITERARY SEMIOTICS AND THE DOCTRINE OF SIGNS 1 2. SEMIOTICS: METHOD OR POINT OF VIEW? 9 3. SEMIOSIS: THE SUBJECT MATTER OF SEMIOTIC INQUIRY 22 4. SIGNS: THE MEDIUM OF SEMIOSIS 33 5. ZOOSEMIOTICS AND ANTHROPOSEMIOTICS 50 A. The Content of Experience 51 B. Species-Specific Objective Worlds 59 C. Species-Specifically Human Semiosis 62 D. The "Conventionality" of Signs in Anthroposemiosis 65 E. Criticism as the Exploration of Textuality 71 F. A Matrix for All the Sciences 74 G. A Model for Discourse as Semiosis 77 H. Summation 81 6. PHYSIOSEMIOSIS AND PHYTOSEMIOSIS 7. RETROSPECT: HISTORY AND THEORY IN SEMIOTICS 83 105 A. Theory