A Process Philosophy of Signs

ISBN-13: 9780748695010 / Angielski / Miękka / 2016 / 208 str.

James Williams

Opis

What is a sign? We usually think that it is a fixed relation; for instance, a red light signifies 'Stop'. This book argues that signs are actually processes, making them an occasion for creative responses rather than automatic and legitimate actions. A red light triggers a process: should I stop?
James Williams develops this new process philosophy of signs through a formal model, in contrast to earlier structuralist definitions. He draws on the philosophies of Deleuze and Whitehead, earlier work on the sign in biology by Jakob von Uexkull and connects critically to contemporary work on process in the philosophy of biology by John Dupre.
A series of practical cases in art, biology, politics, technology, nature and science demonstrate that this formal model for the sign will have wide applications not only for academic subjects but within social and political critique.
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Spis treści

Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction: The Process Sign; 2. The Independent Life of Signs; 3. Biology and the Design of Signs; 4. Process Signs and the Process Philosophy of Biology; 5. The Sign; 6. The Process Sign, Structuralism and Semiology; 7. The Process Sign After Deleuze and Whitehead; 8. The Process Sign is Political; 9. Conclusion; Notes; Index.