Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language UMBERTO ECO INDIANA. University Press. Bloomington & Indianapolis

Transcription

1 Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language UMBERTO ECO INDIANA University Press Bloomington & Indianapolis \

2 Note ix Introduction 1 1. Signs Crisis of a concept The signs of an obstinacy Intension and extension Elusive solutions The deconstruction of the linguistic sign Sign vs. figura Signs vs. sentences The sign as difference The predominance of the signifier Sign vs. text The sign as identity Signs vs. words The Stoics Unification of the theories and the predominance of linguistics The'instructional'model Strong codes and weak codes Abduction and inferential nature of signs The criterion of interpretability Sign and subject Dictionary vs. Encyclopedia Porphyry strikes back Is a definition an interpretation? The idea of a dictionary The interpretation of the markers 54 [v]

3 [vi] 2.2. Critique of the Porphyrian tree Aristotle on definition The Porphyrian tree A tree which is not a tree The tree is entirely made up with differentiae Differentiae as accidents and signs Encyclopedias Some attempts: registering contexts and topics Some attempts: registering frames and scripts Some attempts: stereotypes andcommonsense knowledge Clusters The encyclopedia as labyrinth The dictionary as a tool Metaphor The metaphoric nexus Traditional definitions Aristotle: synecdoche and Porphyrian tree Aristotle: metaphors of three terms Aristotle: the proportional scheme Proportion and condensation % 3.7. Dictionary and encyclopedia The cognitive function The semiosic background: the system of content The medieval encyclopedia and analogia entis Tesauro's categorical index Vico and the cultural conditions of invention The limits of formalization Componential representation and the pragmatics of the text A model by 'cases' Metonymy Topic', frames', isotopies Trivial metaphors and 'open' metaphors Five rules From metaphors to symbolic interpretation Conclusions Symbol Genus and species Expressions by ratio facilis Symbols as conventional expressions Symbols as expressions conveying an indirect meaning Expressions produced by ratio difficilis Symbols as diagrams Symbols as tropes The Romantic symbol as an aesthetic text The symbolic mode The Hegelian symbol Archetypes and the Sacred The symbolic interpretation of the Holy Scriptures The Kabalistic drift, 153

4 [vii] 4.5. Semiotics of the symbolic mode Conclusions Code The rise of a new category A metaphor? Dictionaries The landslide effect Codes and communication Codes as s-codes Codes and information Phonological code Semantics-codes Cryptography and natural languages Codes, ciphers, cloaks From correlation to inference Codes and grammars S-codes and signification S-codes cannot He S-codes and institutional codes The genetic code Toward a provisional conclusion Isotopy Discursive isotopies within sentences with paradigmatic disjunction Discursive isotopies within sentences with syntagmatic disjunction Discursive isotopies between sentences with paradigmatic disjunction Discursive isotopies between sentences with syntagmatic disjunction Narrative isotopies connected with isotopic discursive disjunctions generating mutually exclusive stories 1% 6.6. Narrative isotopies connected with isotopic discursive disjunctions that generate complementary stories Narrative isotopies connected with discursive isotopic disjunctions that generate complementary stories in each case Extensional isotopies Provisional conclusions Mirrors Is the mirror image a sign? The imaginary and the symbolic Getting in through the Mirror A phenomenology of the mirror: the mirror does not invert A pragmatics of the mirror The mirror as a prosthesis and a channel Absolute icons Mirrors as rigid designators 1 211

5 [viii] 7.9. On signs Why mirrors do not produce signs Freaks: distorting mirrors Procatoptric staging Rainbows and Fata Morganas Catoptric theaters Mirrors that'freeze'images The experimentum cruets 226 References 227 Index of authors 237 Index of subjects 239