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1、Lecture 2. History of Semiotics,“The history of semiotics as a whole yet remains to be written”, (Morris),Subdivision of the history,Ancient Medieval Renaisasance theories and later period until 20th cent. Modern,Ancient theories,Plato Aristotle The Stoics The Epicureans,Plato 380 B.C.E,I () cannot
2、convince myself that there is any principle of correctness in names other than convention and agreement; CRATYLUS http:/ wider context of the citation,Hermogenes. I have often talked over this matter, both with Cratylus and others, and cannot convince myself that there is any principle of correctnes
3、s in names other than convention and agreement; any name which you give, in my opinion, is the right one, and if you change that and give another, the new name is as correct as the old- we frequently change the names of our slaves, and the newly-imposed name is as good as the old: for there is no na
4、me given to anything by nature; all is convention and habit of the users;- such is my view. But if I am mistaken I shall be happy to hear and learn of Cratylus, or of any one else. Socrates. I dare say that you be right, Hermogenes Commentary on Plato: Names are conventional, arbitrary signs,Aristot
5、le 350 B.C.E,Spoken words are the symbols of mental experience and written words are the symbols of spoken words. Just as all men have not the same writing, so all men have not the same speech sounds, but the mental experiences, which these directly symbolize, are the same for all, as also are those
6、 things of which our experiences are the images. On Interpretation. Part 1. http:/classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/interpretation.1.1.html,On Aristotles theory of abstraction,By a sense is meant what has the power of receiving into itself the sensible forms of things without the matter. This must be conce
7、ived of as taking place in the way in which a piece of wax takes on the impress of a signet-ring without the iron or gold; we say that what produces the impression is a signet of bronze or gold, but its particular metallic constitution makes no difference: in a similar way the sense is affected by w
8、hat is coloured or flavoured or sounding, but it is indifferent what in each case the substance is; what alone matters is what quality it has, i.e. in what ratio its constituents are combined. On Soul,Form and theory of abstraction, it is not the stone which is present in the soul but its form. De A
9、nima. Chapter 8. Classics in the History of Psychology. http:/psychclassics.yorku.ca/Aristotle/De-anima/index.htm.,Aristotle himself could have avoided the deficiency if he had developed more completely his theory of the sign and had connected it to his analysis of perception. Jeffrey Barnouw, Propo
10、sitional Perception: Phantasia, Predication and Sign in Plato, Aristotle and the Stoics. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2002. Pp. 383. ISBN 0-7618-2341-7.,The Stoics 300 B.C. A. D. 200,The main idea of the stoic theory of signs: A sign consists of three components: The material signifier;
11、The signified (meaning); The external object. Semiosis is a process of syllogistic induction: From the observable signifier we infer (draw a conclusion) by mediation of the signified about what the sign stands for. (Note: SEMIOSIS a process of functioning of a sign),The Epicureans 300 B.C. 0,Dyadic
12、(materialistic) model of sign (rejected the meaning)Rejected inferential account of semiosis,Medieval semiotics,One of the ideas: “omne symbolum de symbolo”,Aurelius Augustine Late antiquity, 354 430,“the greatest semiotician of antiquity and the real founder of semiotics” The writings: De magistro
13、De Doctrina Christiana Principiae dialecticae,Main ideas of Aurelius Augustine,The concept of sign defined in terms of a triadic relation (a sign is always a sign of something to some mind). (Noeth) “a sign is something which, offering itself to the senses, conveys something other to the intellect (
14、Signum est res praeter speciem quam ingerit sensibus, aliud aliquid ex se faciens in cogitationem venire) (Augustine De doctr. chr. II 1, 1963, 33). (Stanf. Enc.) Augustine divides the sign into the two main classes of natural signs (signa naturalia) and given signs (signa data). “Natural signs are
15、those which, apart from any intention or desire of using them as signs, do yet lead to the knowledge of something else”, as, for example, smoke when it indicates fire, the footprint of an animal passing by, or the countenance of an angry or sorrowful man. “Conventional signs, on the other hand, are
16、those which living beings mutually exchange in order to show, as well as they can, the feelings of their minds, or their perceptions, or their thoughts.” (Stanf. Enc.) Signs are things employed to signify something (res quae ad significandum aliquid adhibentur) (Augustine De doctr. chr. I 1, 1963, 9
17、). (Stanf. Enc.),John Poinsot,Iberian philosopher of Portuguese birth, John Poinsot was the first systematically to demonstrate the unity of the subject matter of semiotics as an area of possible inquiry in his Treatise on Signs (1632) Sign is a relational being:Signs are relative beings whose existence consists solely in presenting to human awareness that which they themselves are not. Poinsots formula (1632a: 126/3-5): “It suffices to be a sign virtually in order to signify in act“.,