Last update: doc. ThDr. Jiří Vogel, Th.D. (18.10.2022)
This course explores the science of signs, which are the means by which we know, and the objects of knowledge
itself. A sign is simply something that stands for another thing to a living mind; thus semiotics conflates biology and
culture. Signs and signs systems form the basis of life processes, and form the basis of cultural units, both
individual and collective. The study of semiotics offers techniques that both leap and connect every scale of life –
from DNA to wolf howls, to ‘Czechness’, and from single amoebas to Gaia. And yet, semiotics maintains both the
popular and the religious conceptions of ‘sign’ – as we think in signs (of all variety) and speak in signs (specifically,
legisigns), the study of signs is a necessary component of any study of life, as it is in all fields of the humanities.
Syllabus - Czech
Last update: doc. ThDr. Jiří Vogel, Th.D. (18.10.2022)
Introduction and overview, Why Semiotics? The basics of semiotics - Semiotics for Beginners, Chandler. Peirce’s semiotics - What is a sign and. Semiotics as biological selection - Tractatus Hoffmeyerensis, Stjernfelt. Semiotics as life - To know what life knows, Kull. From biology to humanity - The play of musement, Sebeok. Semiotics and the post-modern human - The semiotic animal, Deely. Being human - The Symbolic Species, Deacon. The limits of semiotics in small worlds - A theory of semiotics, Eco. The explosive advance of small world semiotics - A Universe of Mind, Lotman. Semiotics as post-biotic living systems - The Life of symbols, Noth.
Course completion requirements - Czech
Last update: doc. ThDr. Jiří Vogel, Th.D. (18.10.2022)
To get credit for these courses, students must demonstrate competent understanding of the subject material by writing a term paper and passing a final exam. It is presumed that they will participate in class, be able to read and comprehend the course material, and write coherently on the relevant subject. Students will finish these courses having prepared themselves for study abroad.
Literature - Czech
Last update: doc. ThDr. Jiří Vogel, Th.D. (18.10.2022)
Readings are drawn from the following sources: Chandler, D. (2002) Semiotics for Beginners, London: Routledge Deacon, T. (1997) The Symbolic Species, NY: Norton Deely, J. (2003) The Semiotic animal, Perspectives on Thomas Aquinas, Rome: The Pontifical Academy Eco, U. (1976) A Theory of Semiotics, Bloomington: Indiana University Press Eco, U. (1990) The Limits of Interpretation, Bloomington: Indiana University Press Hawkes, T. (1977) Structuralism and Semiotics, Los Angeles: University of California Hoffmeyer, J. (2009) Semiotic Freedom, in Information and the Nature of Reality. Gregersen and Davis (eds.). Cambridge: University of Cambrige Press Kull, K. (2009) To Know, What Life Knows, Cybernetics and Human Knowing. V 16 Lakoff, G. and Johnson, M. (1980/2003) Metaphors we live by, Chicago: University of Chicago Press Lotman, J. (1990) Universe of the Mind: A Semiotic Theory of Culture, London: I.B. Tauris Morris, C. (1946/1955) Signs, Language, and Behavior, NY: George Braziller, Inc. Nöth W. (2014) The Life of Symbols and Other Legisigns, In: Romanini V., Fernández E. (eds) Peirce and Biosemiotics. Biosemiotics, vol 11. Dordrecht: Springer Peirce, C. (1931-36/1974) The Collected Papers of Charles Peirce in 6 volumes, Cambridge MA: Belknap Press Sebeok, T. (1981) The Play of Musement, Bloomington: Indiana University Press Sole, R. and Goodwin, B. (2000) Signs of Life, NY: Basic Books Stjernfelt, F. (2002) Tractatus Hoffmeyerensis: Biosemiotics as expressed in 22 basic hypotheses, Sign Systems Studies 30 (1), 337-345 Whitehead, A.N. (1927/1955) Symbolism, NY: Macmillan
