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The literal, the metaphorical, and the price of semiotics: An essay on philosophy of language and the doctrine of signs

  • John Deely

    John Deely (b. 1942). His main research interest is the role of the action of signs in mediating objects and things, in particular the manner in which experience itself is a dynamic structure or web woven of triadic relations (signs in the strict sense) where elements (representamens, significates, and interpretants) interchange positions and roles over time in the spiral of semiosis. His most recent principal publications include Four Ages of Understanding (2001); What Distinguishes Human Understanding (2002); The Impact on Philosophy of Semiotics (2003); and Why Semiotics? (2004). His Basics of Semiotics (1990) is now in its fourth edition with translations in Japanese, Romanian, Portuguese, Spanish, Ukranian, and Italian. German and Bulgarian editions are in preparation.

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Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 10. November 2006
Semiotica
Aus der Zeitschrift Band 2006 Heft 161

Abstract

This article examines the status of human language as constituting one system of signs among others, with a particular aim to establish the sense in which the classical distinction between ‘literal’ and ‘metaphorical’ ought best to be understood in the context of semiotics today.

About the author

John Deely

John Deely (b. 1942). His main research interest is the role of the action of signs in mediating objects and things, in particular the manner in which experience itself is a dynamic structure or web woven of triadic relations (signs in the strict sense) where elements (representamens, significates, and interpretants) interchange positions and roles over time in the spiral of semiosis. His most recent principal publications include Four Ages of Understanding (2001); What Distinguishes Human Understanding (2002); The Impact on Philosophy of Semiotics (2003); and Why Semiotics? (2004). His Basics of Semiotics (1990) is now in its fourth edition with translations in Japanese, Romanian, Portuguese, Spanish, Ukranian, and Italian. German and Bulgarian editions are in preparation.

Published Online: 2006-11-10
Published in Print: 2006-08-01

© Walter de Gruyter

Heruntergeladen am 15.9.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/SEM.2006.057/html
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