Semiotics as a metalanguage for the sciences
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Marcel Danesi
Abstract
Semiotics has been applied to innumerable domains of human intellectual, symbolic, and expressive activities. It has also been developed broadly in terms of its epistemology and theoretical ramifications by many semioticians over the years. However, rarely has it been considered to be a metalanguage for mathematics and the physical sciences, even though these use semiotic resources unconsciously, including annotation in mathematics, equation formulation of phenomena in physics, and so on. The purpose of this paper is to consider semiotics in terms of its value as a metalanguage for the sciences since it allows the scientist and mathematician to reflect consciously on the nature of the symbolic resources used in carrying out representation within their disciplines. For example, set theory logic in mathematics, as Peirce clearly understood, was an attempt by mathematicians to develop a metalanguage of their own for the study of mathematics. As it turns out, and as Peirce persuasively showed, set theory is itself a manifestation of semiotic principles that define its metalinguistic structure. The modern concept of metalanguage can be traced to Russell and Whitehead’s (1913) construction of a set of principles that were free of logical circularity and inconsistency for mathematics, logic, and thus the sciences. As it turned out, that set contained a “flaw” - a proposition that could not be shown to be true or false - leading to the notion of indeterminacy in logic (Godel 1931). A semiotic metalanguage, on the other hand, would show the structural and signifying characteristics of such constructions, not present them as monolithic frameworks.
Abstract
Semiotics has been applied to innumerable domains of human intellectual, symbolic, and expressive activities. It has also been developed broadly in terms of its epistemology and theoretical ramifications by many semioticians over the years. However, rarely has it been considered to be a metalanguage for mathematics and the physical sciences, even though these use semiotic resources unconsciously, including annotation in mathematics, equation formulation of phenomena in physics, and so on. The purpose of this paper is to consider semiotics in terms of its value as a metalanguage for the sciences since it allows the scientist and mathematician to reflect consciously on the nature of the symbolic resources used in carrying out representation within their disciplines. For example, set theory logic in mathematics, as Peirce clearly understood, was an attempt by mathematicians to develop a metalanguage of their own for the study of mathematics. As it turns out, and as Peirce persuasively showed, set theory is itself a manifestation of semiotic principles that define its metalinguistic structure. The modern concept of metalanguage can be traced to Russell and Whitehead’s (1913) construction of a set of principles that were free of logical circularity and inconsistency for mathematics, logic, and thus the sciences. As it turned out, that set contained a “flaw” - a proposition that could not be shown to be true or false - leading to the notion of indeterminacy in logic (Godel 1931). A semiotic metalanguage, on the other hand, would show the structural and signifying characteristics of such constructions, not present them as monolithic frameworks.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Table of contents v
- Preface ix
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Section 1: Semiotics in the world and academia
- What the humanities are for – a semiotic perspective 3
- Semioethics as a vocation of semiotics. In the wake of Welby, Morris, Sebeok, Rossi- Landi 25
- “General semiotics” as the all-round interdisciplinary organizer – general semiotics (GS) vs. philosophical fundamentalism 45
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Section 2: Semiotics, experimental science and maths
- Semiotics as a metalanguage for the sciences 61
- Mastering phenomenological semiotics with Husserl and Peirce 83
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Section 3: Society, text and social semiotics
- Farewell to representation: text and society 105
- Social semiotics: Towards a sociologically grounded semiotics 121
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Section 4: Semiotics and media
- What relationship to time do the media promise us? 149
- Semiotics and interstitial mediatizations 169
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Section 5: Semiotics for moral questions
- Spaces of memory and trauma: a cultural semiotic perspective 185
- Media coverage of the voices of Colombia’s victims of dispossession 205
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Section 6: Questioning the logic of semiotics
- Sense beyond communication 225
- Semiotic paradoxes: Antinomies and ironies in a transmodern world 239
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Section 7: Manifestoes for semiotics
- Semiosis and human understanding 257
- Culture and transcendence – the concept of transcendence through the ages 293
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Section 8: Masters on past masters
- From Peirce’s pragmatic maxim to Wittgenstein’s language-games 327
- Semiotics as a critical discourse: Roland Barthes’ Mythologies 353
- Ricoeur, a disciple of Greimas? A case of paradoxical maïeutic 363
- Index 377
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter i
- Table of contents v
- Preface ix
-
Section 1: Semiotics in the world and academia
- What the humanities are for – a semiotic perspective 3
- Semioethics as a vocation of semiotics. In the wake of Welby, Morris, Sebeok, Rossi- Landi 25
- “General semiotics” as the all-round interdisciplinary organizer – general semiotics (GS) vs. philosophical fundamentalism 45
-
Section 2: Semiotics, experimental science and maths
- Semiotics as a metalanguage for the sciences 61
- Mastering phenomenological semiotics with Husserl and Peirce 83
-
Section 3: Society, text and social semiotics
- Farewell to representation: text and society 105
- Social semiotics: Towards a sociologically grounded semiotics 121
-
Section 4: Semiotics and media
- What relationship to time do the media promise us? 149
- Semiotics and interstitial mediatizations 169
-
Section 5: Semiotics for moral questions
- Spaces of memory and trauma: a cultural semiotic perspective 185
- Media coverage of the voices of Colombia’s victims of dispossession 205
-
Section 6: Questioning the logic of semiotics
- Sense beyond communication 225
- Semiotic paradoxes: Antinomies and ironies in a transmodern world 239
-
Section 7: Manifestoes for semiotics
- Semiosis and human understanding 257
- Culture and transcendence – the concept of transcendence through the ages 293
-
Section 8: Masters on past masters
- From Peirce’s pragmatic maxim to Wittgenstein’s language-games 327
- Semiotics as a critical discourse: Roland Barthes’ Mythologies 353
- Ricoeur, a disciple of Greimas? A case of paradoxical maïeutic 363
- Index 377
