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______________________________________________________________________ The "Zeitschrift für
Semiotik": Abstracts ______________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________ Stefano Cochetti Andreas König Helmut Pape Roland Posner Bernhard F. Scholz Boris Uspenskij André Wiese Consciousness of self is an epiphenomenon of the sign process: Ch. S. Peirce's country map parable Ulrich Baltzer, Technical University Dresden Summary. This essay shows how Peirce uses a model of embedded maps to represent central
functions that have been assigned to consciousness of self in the history of philosophy.
It follows that consciousness of self is reducible to a specific constellation of signs.
Moreover, the analysis of the model together with Peirce’s semiotics and his theory
of continua provides essential elements which guarantee the numeric and qualitative unity
of semiosis. To conclude, it is shown how current theories of cognition may profit from
these results.
Mirror image, metaphor and convention: using the example "Las Meninas" by Velásquez Stefano Cochetti, Technical University Chemnitz-Zwickau Summary. The painting by Diego Velásquez, "Las Meninas" (’The court
ladies’; 1656), is analyzed with respect to four questions, the first referring
specifically to Velásquez’ masterpiece while the others are more general. (1) Is
court etiquette not being flagrantly violated in the depicted scene? This problem is
solved through the hypothesis that this violation is simply an illusion. (2) Are the
metaphors involved a linguistic or a more general semiotic phenomenon? It is argued for
the second alternative. (3) Can transfer of meaning, which is proper to all social
conventions, be used to justify the substitution theory of metaphor? The answer is yes.
(4) Are mirror images read as pictures with a literal or a transferred meaning? It is
claimed that metaphors and mirror images contrast in this respect. Home: sign theoretical analysis of identification connected with space Andreas König, Free University Berlin Summary. This article deals with the question to what degree Heimat (English: homeland,
French: patrie) is a semiotic phenomenon. After an overview and critical commentaries on
the current literature about Heimat, some contemporary conceptions are analyzed and their
basic components connected with the notions of identity and identification. To conclude,
the author present his own semiotic conception of Heimat. Coming together? – Exotic people as signs in European advertising Doris Mosbach, Technical University Berlin Summary. Exotic, foreign-looking people have been employed in advertisements ever since
the emergence of illustrated advertising. The modes of representation used mirror the
European stereotypes, thus creating exotic, non-European counter-worlds. The article first
differentiates the levels of sign processes relevant for analyzing advertisements in
general, and then classifies representations of exotic people as used in European
advertisements with regard to the semiotic relations between the people, their regions and
the products. Consiousness of self is not an epiphenomenon of the sign process: Ch. S. Peirce on semiotic form and teleological structure of self Helmut Pape, University of Hannover Summary. This contribution agrees with the connection Baltzer draws between
Peirce’s model of embedded maps, the form of sign processes and the structure of
consciousness of self. However, the model of embedded maps must be assigned a different
position in Peirce’s thinking. It is shown that Peirce used this model with a polemic
intention, in order to prove that a static self-embedding of sign-triads is insufficient
to produce consciousness of self. For this, a further unfolding of the sign-triads over
time is required, which depends on the purposes set by the person concerned. Only the
combination of semiotic form and teleological structure leads to consciousness of
self. . Sign distortion: history and functions Willie van Peer, University of Utrecht Summary. The material character of signs makes it possible to mutilate them and thereby
render their interpretation difficult or impossible. The present essay surveys historical
instances of sign mutilation and is thus a contribution to semiotic paleography. As is
shown, signs were mutilated or destroyed because (1) the sign user feared that a sign
might call forth its referent (magical function), (2) a political ruler wanted to delete
unwelcome traces of the past and rewrite history (political function), (3) a society had
only a limited supply for information carriers and needed to recycle them (economic
funtion), (4) following the introduction of book printing, galley proofs were produced
which had to be corrected in order to guarantee a reliable text (critical function), (5)
an author wished to indicate that he regarded his message as uncertain and had general
doubts concerning the adequacy of human knowledge and human communication (sceptical
function), (6) an authority which had lost control over the means of text production
wanted to prevent the distribution of unwelcome texts (censorship function), (7) an author
sought to denounce censorship by exposing its mechanisms (emancipatory function). These
functions of sign mutilation and destruction suggest conclusions as to the functions of
sign production, which in turn show that the history of sign production cannot be
understood without due attention to the history of sign mutilation: Historical semiotics
is impossible without semiotic paleography, as is literary history without literary
paleography. Semiotic paleography strengthens the awareness of civilization’s
fragility and reveals the extent to which violence of the kind that leads to sign
mutilation is rooted in society. It may help prevent the mutilation of human beings, which
often accompanies the mutilation of human signs.
Roland Posner, Technical University Berlin Summary. This introductory contribution contrasts the analysis of man as a sender and
receiver of signs, offered by communication theory, with the biblical conception of man as
a sign (of God). Two explications of man as a sign are discussed: (1) Peirce’s
conception of man as a signifier producing signifiers, and (2) the conception of Roland
Barthes, construing the human body as an utterance within a communication process. Every
verbal utterance is shown to be embedded in simultaneously occuring bodily utterances of
longer duration (taking not fragments of seconds, but minutes, hours, days or years) and
to be evaluated on the basis of its compatibility with these longer lasting utterances. In
fact, the bodily utterances form a hierarchy of credibility correlated with their
durations. This approach has consequences for the theory of the performing arts: Every
actor is a two-level sign in which three different aspects must be distinguished; by
iconically referring to prominent features of the character presented and indexically
referring to the rest of that character’s features, the actor can express his or her
own personality. What happens when these three aspects fail be to separated is documented
by the fate of the double of the Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha. A diagram of human proportions: Leonardo da Vinci's illustration of a passage from Vitruvius’ De Architectura as a pictorial topos Bernhard F. Scholz, University of Groningen Summary. Leonardo da Vinci’s diagram of human proportions, originally intended as
an illustration of a passage from Vitruvius’ De Architectura, has been transformed by
the history of its reception into a pictorial topos which can be used in many different
contexts and for a variety of purposes. What characterizes this development is the fact
that one and the same configuration of lines and planes has been read against the backdrop
of vastly divergent symbol systems (in Nelson Goodman’s sense of that term). The
change in symbol contexts brought changing types of human characteristics into the focus
of attention. In this article four stages in the career of the human proportions diagram
are studied and analyzed in semiotic terms: Vitruvius’ verbal description, several
attempts at pictorial representation by 16th century Humanist draftsmen, a number of
modern adaptations for the purposes of advertising and, finally, two recent attempts at
integrating the diagram into aesthetic contexts. Divine and human perspectives: the composition of the Ghent altarpiece by van Eyck from a semiotic viewpoint Boris Uspenskij, Humanistist University Moscow Summary. An analysis of the Ghent Altarpiece by van Eyck shows that depicted figures
are arranged according to the dualism of earthly versus heavenly space. Two kinds of
perspective are presented here: that of an external observer (this perspective corresponds
to the point of view of a person standing in front of the Altarpiece) and that of an
internal observer imagined to be within the depicted world (i.e., the divine perspective).
The external perspective is used to represent earthly space, whereas the internal
perspective serves to represent heavenly space. This contraposition of the two opposite
points of view is specifically revealed in the right-left orientation of the opened altar
panels. In the foreground the more important figures are placed to the right, while in the
middleground they appear on the left hand side (from the point of view of an observer of
the Altarpiece). It is argued that in both cases the right hand side has priority (is
semiotically marked as more important); however, in the foreground the organization of
figures correlates with our point of view (that of the external observer who is outside
the depicted world) while in the middleground the figures are arranged according to the
point of view of an internal observer. The former principle is typical for Renaissance art
and the latter characteristic for Medieval art, especially for icon-painting.
Incidentally, this is made clear in the terminology of icon-painters: the right hand side
of the icon was considered to be the left (and was called "left"), and,
conversely, the left hand side of the painting was considered to be the right (and
accordingly was called "right"). In other words the reckoning was not from our
point of view but from the point of view of our implicit vis-a-vis. Famous as a
protagonist of Renaissance art, van Eyck actually uses both principles, the Renaissance
and the Medieval one: the Renaissance principle is used for the representation of earthly
space, while the traditional Medieval principle serves to represent heavenly space. Indeed
the central part of the opened Altarpiece is structured in the same way as an icon. The
panels on the closed altar illustrate the dualism between Earth and Heaven in a different
way. In earthly space, heavenly figures take the form of statues and pictures, whereas in
heavenly space they are alive. At the same time, the figures of Archangel Gabriel and the
Virgin Mary stylistically correspond to the statues of saints: the same colors are used
and their garments are represented as a sculptural relief. However, the dialogue between
the Archangel and the Virgin Mary confirms the complementarity of perspectives:
Gabriel’s words address the Earth and are thus to be read from below;
Mary’s words address heaven and their letters therefore appear upside-down to the
human observer. The article concludes with the hypothesis that the opposition between the
earthly and the heavenly is not only a priciple of composition of the Ghent Altarpiece but
also its central theme. André Wiese, University of Basle Summary. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs – a way of writing with pictures rather than
a pictorial script – were in use between 3000 B.C. and the 4th century A.D. The key
to deciphering the hieroglyphs was not found until 1822, when the Frenchman J.F.
Champollion discovered that they constituted a mixed system of pictorial and phonetic
signs, and that most of them were to be read phonetically. Today, the ancient Egyptian
texts can be translated with considerable precision; however, it is impossible to
determine the correct pronunciation of the words, since the writing of the ancient
Egyptians only recorded the consonants and not the vowels. – Unlike their neighbors
in the Middle East, the ancient Egyptians were prompted to use writing for mainly
religious reasons. Writing was considered a form of art, and in its early stages word and
image seemed inseparable. The hieroglyph 'human' exhibited a variety of forms, which can
serve us as a mirror of the ancient Egyptian way of life. The two brilliantly contrasted
basic forms for 'man' and 'woman' were further differentiated through gestures, attributes
and attire so as to designate craftsmen, officials, priests, musicians, foreigners, and
enemies. In addition, body posture was used to distinguish, e.g., a child, an old man,
someone who was fearful, exhausted, or in mourning. Further pictorial elements served to
characterize specific situations, such as when the corner of a wall indicated hiding or a
pool of water indicated swimming. – In contrast to the alphabet, the hieroglyphic
writing system was never completed. Once introduced, a sign could remain unaltered for
millennia, but it was always possible to invent additional signs. |
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