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Semiotics

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The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible

Abstract

What is a sign? Why are there signs? Where do signs come from? How many types and kinds of signs are there? What is the basis for their classification? What are their respective powers? How do they stand to one another? What are the various uses to which they can be put? Semiotics, the general theory of signs, is the discipline that tries to answer these questions in a systematic and comprehensive way. Semiotics deals with meanings and messages in all their forms and all their contexts. Semiotics takes its name from the Greek word semeion, a sign, mark, or token by means of which a thing is known or differentiated from another. Semiotics studies semiosis, processes of meaning-making or signification through signs and sign systems of every kind. We are caught up in these systems, and by means of them we interpret our lives and the “worlds” in which we live or desire to live. Semiotics is a “big tent” discipline. Its practitioners and proponents come from related yet different backgrounds and disciplines and have developed different analytical procedures, conceptual schemes, and theoretical focal points. Some have extended the scope of semiotics to the whole range of cultural phenomena that must be interpreted, or reinterpreted, in semiotic terms. Other have developed the area of biosemiotics to inquire into how far down in the realm of living forms one can see semiosis occurring. This entry will show how it is possible to frame these core questions and issues with the help of analytical tools developed by three fundamental figures in semiotics: Ernst Cassirer, C.S. Peirce, and Karl Bühler.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Philosophy, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, USA

    Robert E. Innis

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  1. Robert E. Innis
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Correspondence to Robert E. Innis .

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  1. Institute of psychology and education, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

    Martina Cabra

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Innis, R.E. (2020). Semiotics. In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of the Possible. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_128-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98390-5_128-1

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