Explorations in Dynamic Semiosis

ISBN-13: 9783031470004 / Angielski

Elli Marie Tragel

Spis treści

General introduction (editor) 

Setting up the background to link Tartu School of Semiotics with Cultural Psychology.

 

PART 1

The first part of the book will provide a thorough general understanding of dynamic semiosis from appearance to disappearance of signs, introducing semiotic terminology in connection to focus on irreversibility of time as emphasised in cultural psychology.

 

> Erik Kõvamees “Semiosis: From the Relational Dynamics of the Sign to the  Semiosphere as Scaffolding”

The goal in this chapter is to survey the notion of semiosis from the (sub-)sub-processual levels of the sign all the way up to the level of human civilization as the all-encompassing semiosphere, similar to how physical or biological studies could move from the notions of the atom or the cell all the way up to discussions about the physical universe or biosphere.

 

> Elli Marie Tragel “Desemiosis: Constructive Function of Exemption from Meaning”

Second chapter explores the “backwards” semiosic process and its importance for the health of meaning-making.

 

PART 2

The 2nd part of the book focuses more closely on temporality and irreversibility in human and non-human meaning-making processes.

 

> Oscar Miyamoto Gomez “Bridging Charles Peirce and Endel Tulving through Phenomenology: from Temporal Causation to Episodic Memory”

The chapter shows how Peircean semiotics can improve understanding of meaning-making in Episodic Memory (EM). Through examining the phenomenology of subjective (lived) time in the work of Charles S. Peirce, father of pragmaticism, and in the work Endel Tulving, father of EM theory, the chapter sheds light on the cognitive role of interpretation on behalf of an interpreter, which is central to understand episodic Mental Time Travel beyond the classic computational terms of information processing (e.g. ‘encoding’, ‘storing’, and ‘decoding’).

 

> Oleksii Popovych “Interspecific Temporalities: Crafting Common Rhythms”

Extending the framework of Umwelt theory, the chapter discusses notions of “moment”, “spacious present” and “time window”, and proposes “E-series timing” to be the best analytical tool to explain temporal synchronicity.

 

> Joshua Augustus Bacigalupi “Semiogenesis: naturalizing semiosic haecceity and temporal irreversibility”

This chapter will use a systems theoretic model inspired by thermodynamics, information theory and neuroscience as a heuristic lens through which existing models can be rendered more generally scientific.

> Heidi Campana Piva “Modeling the Semiosphere on Thermodynamic Open Systems”

The chapter proposes a complementary synthesizing framework of how thermodynamics can work with Lotman’s semiosphere, and how this framework (centred around the notions of order/disorder) could be applied to both cultural and natural studies.

 

> Siret  Schutting “The Emergence of the Present: From Feels to Semiosis”

The chapter discusses the temporal units of meaning-making and proposes a model for the “semiosis of now”.

 

PART 3

The 3rd part of the book brings attention to critical necessity of acknowledging the dynamics of semiosis. This part discusses meaning-making more specifically in the context of  technology, AI, brand innovation, research methodologies and education, proposing new possible approaches that pay respect to the complexity of semiotic subject.

 

> Roland Erich Uriko “Breaking the Status Quo. A Third Vision on the Relations of Numeric System and Psychological Measurement”

In psychology, quantitative method has been the major tool for creating misplaced and illusory precision of knowledge about nonexisting objects such as intelligence, personality, etc. Axiomatically, psychological measurements are changed to fit into the pre-set borders of linear universal mathematics. But is this axiom fitting the phenomena? This chapter claims that the change could be implemented by assigning signs on a quasi-linear system.

 

> Auli Viidalepp & Tyler James Bennett “‘Machine semiosis’ and the quasi-signs: towards an improved theory of general semiotics”

The chapter uses the quasi-sign doctrine to organize the proper semiotic tools, and to show how the biosemiotic inquiry into the lower threshold of semiosis is instructive for the inverse exploration of the upper threshold, between organic life and artificial intelligence.

 

> Sven Anderson “A method for deriving brand innovation: example of Meta”

Here presented approach to brand innovation does not assume that novelty appears irregularly and is unpredictable. The proposed brand innovation model can help to computationally decide the next possible steps to implement planned development into an existing market.

 

> Daria Arkhipova “Interpretation process in Artificial Intelligence mediated environments: stress and digital burnout”

This chapter focuses on digitally mediated communication, particularly within Social Media platforms using Artificial Intelligence recommendation systems. It aims to create a bridge between neuroscience and biosemiotics, and to connect the methodological findings with a semiotic perspective on human cognition and the interpretation process.

 

> Keily Tammaru “Navigating on the boundary of multiple rooms – differences of communication in virtual and face-to-face meetings”

With theoretical support from biosemiotics, the chapter analyses differences of face-to-face and computer-mediated communication dynamics, and aims to clarify the reasons behind “Zoom fatigue”.

 

> Merit Rickberg “Non-linear modelling of learning in times of crises”

Based on Juri Lotman’s descriptions of various modelling systems, the chapter will discuss how different pedagogies can guide students through the experience of crisis and consider how the individual experience of crisis in the process of learning can enhance our capability to deal with crises on the collective level.

 

> Kaustubh Khare “Non-linear forms in semiosis”

The contribution will visualize non-linear forms in semiosis based on the example of chess.

 

PART 4

Final part of the book combines contributions focusing on analysing social and cultural processes, giving a diverse set of both historical and contemporary examples.

 

> Viktoriia Yermolaieva “Symmetry-asymmetry in semiosphere of culture: the case of authenticity/inauthenticity opposition”

This chapter is dedicated to investigation of the concepts of symmetry-asymmetry in Juri Lotman’s idea of semiosphere.

 

> Eleni Alexandri “The Illusionary World in K-Pop”

The intention of this chapter is to analyze the impact that K-Pop as a spectacle has on the identities of both performers and fans, as well as the potential disruption of semiosis and cognition of reality that can result from intense involvement in participatory culture and deep immersion in the realm of illusion.

 

> Krista Tomson “Discussion about free will and grief through semiotic hierarchy”

The chapter draws connections between the hierarchical dynamics of grief stages and free will as a hyper-generalized sign field.

 

> Karl Joosep Pihel “Spinning the Symbolic Web: Listener and Irreversible Time in Musical Signification”

This chapter takes as its problem the issue of the listeners experience in musical communication or meaning making. Taking a cue from cultural psychology and Jean-Jacques Nattiez, musical meaning-making is seen as a practice of creating and destroying sign-hierarchies within irreversible time, with the possibility for creating stable and rigid or free-floating and non-descript signs.

 

> Alec Richard Kozicki “Emergent imputative symbols: In one word”

The chapter is a summative review of how imputative symbols are theoretically relevant for ethnographic research related to the ‘one word question’ (“In one word, what is the one value in your life that holds the most power?”).

 

> Ana Marić “Theory of imagination: Phantasmagoria”

The chapter on Phantasmagoria gives an example of systematic imagination becoming applicable theory of itself.

 

> Marc Antoine Campill “Beyond ghosts and castles: Possession, a cultural tool for transition”

Possession is a central product of the dialogic between our self and the environment. The chapter makes sense of the complex meaning of possession by the metaphorical use of our perception of daily life events, historical context and the metaphorical use of blood.

 

> Herman Tamminen “Blood gilded time – remarks on the sublogical bearings betwixt passion, possession, and perish”

The aim of this chapter is to glare at some possible connections between the Sun, blood and gold by means of cultural psychology and semiotics of culture.

 

> Anastasiia Bondarenko “Knowing the answer, He still questions. The possibility of semiosis and subjective time in St. Augustine”

Semiosis and subjective time condition each other, and proving the existence of one would prove the existence of the other. Focusing on the works of St. Augustine, the chapter attempts to show that just as life finds a way into the afterlife, so does semiosis.

O autorze

Elli Marie Tragel has BA and MA degrees in semiotics and is currently completing her Ph.D.(by 2025) at the Department of Semiotics of University of Tartu, Estonia. She is also working as a research funding coordinator at the Estonian Research Council. Her doctoral research is focused on transformations of human semiosis, and possible exemption from meaning-making, in which altered ways of relating to the world arise. Thus, she is investigating “desemiosis” on the example of meaning-making in Buddhist Chan meditation. Additionally, she wishes to develop and implement critical first-person investigation methods in scientific research and education, and to better understand how ways of knowing could contribute to global happiness and virtue.

Blurb

This anthology is a manifold combining semiotics and psychology. Chapters in the book are authored by young scholars making sense of semiosis in irreversible time from a multitude of perspectives. The central focus on the dynamics of meaning-making comes together in a variety of topics that align in the core idea of dynamic nature of human making and use of signs. First, this book gives a comprehensive overview of relational dynamics of the sign. The overview is followed by a collection of chapters focusing on various topics relevant for humanities and social sciences, such as experience of time, (cultural) memory, musical signification, human-computer interactions, death and eternity, freedom and responsibility, authenticity, methods for practice and research in psychology, etc. This anthology contributes to the integration of the fields of semiotics and psychology, building on the classic traditions of the Tartu-Moscow School of Semiotics (established by Juri Lotman) and contemporary cultural psychology that has unified social sciences in the recent three decades. Examples of how new semiotic models are applied to various domains of human lives will be given, anticipating the future and addressing its past. As such, this book is a relevant read for everyone interested in the complex nature of meaning-making, and inclusion of dynamics in all expressions of life, including academic research.