NDLI: The Great Chain of Semiosis. Investigating the Steps in the Evolution of Semiotic Competence

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The Great Chain of Semiosis. Investigating the Steps in the Evolution of Semiotic Competence

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Hoffmeyer, Jesper Stjernfelt, Frederik
Copyright Year	2015
Abstract	Based on the conception of life and semiosis as co-extensive an attempt is given to classify cognitive and communicative potentials of species according to the plasticity and articulatory sophistication they exhibit. A clear distinction is drawn between semiosis and perception, where perception is seen as a high-level activity, an integrated product of a multitude of semiotic interactions inside or between bodies. Previous attempts at finding progressive trends in evolution that might justify a scaling of species from primitive to advanced levels have not met with much success, but when evolution is considered in the light of semiosis such a scaling immediately catches the eye. The main purpose of this paper is to suggest a scaling of this progression in semiotic freedom into a series of distinct steps. The elleven steps suggested are: 1) molecular recognition, 2) prokaryote-eukaryote transformation (privatization of the genome), 3) division of labor in multicellular organisms (endosemiosis), 4) from irritability to phenotypic plasticity, 5) sense perception, 6) behavioral choice, 7) active information gathering, 8) collaboration, deception, 9) learning and social intelligence, 10) sentience, 11) consciousness. In light of this, the paper finally discusses the conceptual framework for biosemiotic evolution. The evolution of biosemiotic capabilities does not take the form of an ongoing composition of simple signs (icons, indices, signals, etc.) into composite wholes. Rather, it takes the shape of the increasing subdivision and control of a primitive, holophrastic perception-action circuit already committed to “proto-propositions” (dicisigns) reliably guiding action already in the most primitive species.
Starting Page	7
Ending Page	29
Page Count	23
File Format	PDF
ISSN	18751342
Journal	Biosemiotics
Volume Number	9
Issue Number	1
e-ISSN	18751350
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2015-09-10
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	One Nation One Subscription (ONOS)
Subject Keyword	Biosemiotics Semiotic freedom Learning Social intelligence Consciousness Dicisigns Peirce Evolutionary Biology Linguistics Philosophy of Science Psychology Computing Methodologies
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Communication Linguistics and Language

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1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
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