The meaning and madness of money: A Semio-ecological analysis
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Per Aage Brandt, born 1944 in Buenos Aires, is a Danish citizen with a Ph.D. from the University of Copenhagen, 1971, and a Thèse d’Etat in Semio-Linguistics from the Sorbonne, Paris, 1987: La Charpente modale du sens (1992, John Benjamins). He is a Professor of Semiotics and a founder of The Center for Dynamic Semiotics at the University of Aarhus (1993); a Research Fellow at CASBS, Stanford, CA (2001–2002); a Professor of Cognitive Science and of Language and Literature at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (2005–2011); and an Adjunct Professor at CWRU (2011–present).
Abstract
In this paper, I propose an overall model of the semantic and semiotic functions of money and capital forms based on an ecological view of human activity and a theory of the origin of money (coined precious metals). The meaning of money is replaced in a structured human perspective and a critical discussion is outlined on the grounds of the material and capital flows and functions identified. The madness of money follows from the separation of economy and ecology. That madness causes serious damage, especially under certain circumstances that the structural analysis can identify. Finally, I add some new considerations on the psycho-semiotic implications of the analysis. The societal structure discussed can be interpreted in terms that have strikingly direct correspondence to those describing semiotic aspects of language and the human psyché where the concepts of meaning and madness are immediately pertinent.
About the author
Per Aage Brandt, born 1944 in Buenos Aires, is a Danish citizen with a Ph.D. from the University of Copenhagen, 1971, and a Thèse d’Etat in Semio-Linguistics from the Sorbonne, Paris, 1987: La Charpente modale du sens (1992, John Benjamins). He is a Professor of Semiotics and a founder of The Center for Dynamic Semiotics at the University of Aarhus (1993); a Research Fellow at CASBS, Stanford, CA (2001–2002); a Professor of Cognitive Science and of Language and Literature at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (2005–2011); and an Adjunct Professor at CWRU (2011–present).
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© 2017 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Language and Culture in Visual Narratives
- Aesthetic perception, attention, and non-genericity: How artists exploit the automatisms of perception to construct meaning in vision
- The metaphoric conceptualization of emotion through heart idioms in Turkish
- The meaning and madness of money: A Semio-ecological analysis
- Debtors, creditors, and sovereign money: A case for institutional blending and the amalgamated mind
- More on money: A response to Oakley
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Language and Culture in Visual Narratives
- Aesthetic perception, attention, and non-genericity: How artists exploit the automatisms of perception to construct meaning in vision
- The metaphoric conceptualization of emotion through heart idioms in Turkish
- The meaning and madness of money: A Semio-ecological analysis
- Debtors, creditors, and sovereign money: A case for institutional blending and the amalgamated mind
- More on money: A response to Oakley
