Semiosphere

About: Semiosphere is a(n) research topic. Over the lifetime, 219 publication(s) have been published within this topic receiving 2698 citation(s).

Universe of the Mind: A Semiotic Theory of Culture

Abstract: Universe of the Mind A Semiotic Theory of CultureYuri M. LotmanIntroduction by Umberto Eco Translated by Ann ShukmanA major book by one of the initiators of cultural studies. "Universe of the Mind is an ambitious, complex, and wide-ranging book that semioticians, textual critics, and those interested in cultural studies will find stimulating and immensely suggestive." Journal of Communication"Soviet semiotics offers a distinctive, richly productive approach to literary and cultural studies and Universe of the Mind represents a summation of the intellectual career of the man who has done most to guarantee this." Slavic and East European JournalUniverse of the Mind addresses three main areas: meaning and text, culture, and history. The result is a full-scale attempt to demonstrate the workings of the semiotic space or intellectual world. Part One is concerned with the ways that texts generate meaning. Part Two addresses Lotman s central idea of the semiosphere the domain in which all semiotic systems can function presented through an analogy with the global biosphere. Part Three focuses on semiotics from the point of view of history.A seminal text in cultural semiotics, the book s ambitious scope also makes it applicable to disciplines outside semiotics. The book will be of great interest to those concerned with cultural studies, anthropology, Slavic studies, critical theory, philosophy, and historiography.Yuri Mikhailovich Lotman is the founder of the Moscow-Tartu School and the initiator of the discipline of cultural semiotics."

Signs of meaning in the universe

Abstract: Foreword 1. Signifying On lumps in nothingness, on "not" 2. Forgetting On history and codes: the dialectic of oblivion 3. Repeating On Nature's tendency to acquire habits 4. Inventing On life and self-reference, on subjectivity 5. Opening Up On the sensory universe of creatures: the liberation of the semiosphere 6. Defining The mobile brain: the language of cells 7. Connecting On the triadic ascendance of dualism 8. Sharing On language: existential bioanthropology 9. Uniting Consciousness: the bodily governor within the brain 10. Healing On ethics: reuniting two stories in one body-mind Notes Bibliography Index

On the semiosphere

Abstract: This article, first published in Russian in 1984 in Sign Systems Studies, introduces the concept of semiosphere and describes its principal attributes. Semiosphere is the semiotic space, outside of which semiosis cannot exist. The ensemble of semiotic formations functionally precedes the singular isolated language and becomes a condition for the existence of the latter. Without the semiosphere, language not only does not function, it does not exist. The division between the core and the periphery is a law of the internal organisation of the semiosphere. There exists boundary between the semiosphere and the nonor extra-semiotic space that surrounds it. The semiotic border is represented by the sum of bilingual translatable “filters”, passing through which the text is translated into another language (or languages), situated outside the given semiosphere. The levels of the semiosphere comprise an inter-connected group of semiospheres, each of them being simultaneously both participant in the dialogue (as part of the semiosphere) and the space of dialogue (the semiosphere as a whole). Contemporary semiotics is undergoing a review of some of its basic concepts. It is a well-known fact that at the heart of semiotics lie two scientific traditions. One of these goes back to Peirce-Morris and begins with an understanding of the sign as the first element of any semiotic system. The second is based on the theses of Saussure and the Prague school and has at its core the antinomy of language and speech (texts). However, despite the differences of these approaches, 1 [Translator’s note.] This article, regarded as a classic or seminal piece by many who have studied Lotman’s work, was first published in 1984 in Signs Systems Studies (Труды по знаковым системам) 17: 5–23, and includes one of the first mentioning of the term ‘semiosphere’ coined by Lotman. Translated from the original Russian language version, published in Lotman 1992. We are not informed about any earlier English translation of this article. (See also fn. 6.)

Connecting theories in mathematics education: challenges and possibilities

Abstract: This paper is a commentary on the problem of networking theories. My commentary draws on the papers contained in this ZDM issue and is divided into three parts. In the first part, following semiotician Yuri Lotman, I suggest that a network of theories can be conceived of as a semiosphere, i.e., a space of encounter of various languages and intellectual traditions. I argue that such a networking space revolves around two different and complementary “themes”—integration and differentiation. In the second part, I advocate conceptualizing theories in mathematics education as triplets formed by a system of theoretical principles, a methodology, and templates of research questions, and attempt to show that this tripartite view of theories provides us with a morphology of theories for investigating differences and potential connections. In the third part of the article, I discuss some examples of networking theories. The investigation of limits of connectivity leads me to talk about the boundary of a theory, which I suggest defining as the “limit” of what a theory can legitimately predicate about its objects of discourse; beyond such an edge, the theory conflicts with its own principles. I conclude with some implications of networking theories for the advancement of mathematics education.

On semiosis, Umwelt, and semiosphere

Abstract: Dans le cadre du numero de la revue «Semiotica» (120, 3/4, 1998) consacre a la lecture de l'ouvrage de J. Hoffmeyer intitule «Signs of meaning in the universe» (1996), l'A. se propose de definir et de commenter les notions de semiosis, environnement et semiosphere sur lesquelles repose l'entreprise biosemiotique de Hoffmeyer, operant un tournant cognitif dans le domaine de la biologie. Examinant les finalites et les methodes de la biosemiotique concernant le concept d'information, le dualisme esprit-corps, l'opposition sciences humaines/sciences naturelles et humanite/nature, l'A. montre que la discipline definie par Hoffmeyer inaugure un nouveau paradigme en biologie empirique comme en biologie theorique, dressant des ponts entre des systemes complexes