Semiotics Continues to Astonish: Thomas A. Sebeok and the Doctrine of Signs

A fully-fledged doctrine of signs, with many horizons for the future, was the result of Thomas A. Sebeok's work in the twentieth century. This volume, using the testimonies of key witnesses and participants in the semiotic project, offers a picture of how Sebeok, through his development of knowledge of endosemiotics, phytosemiotics, biosemiotics and sociosemiotics, enabled semiotics in general to redraw the boundaries of science and the humanities as well as nature and culture.

Review:

As an overview of the current status of semiotic understanding, and as apersonal introduction to Thomas A. Sebeok for those unable to meet him prior to his death in 2001, the volume is indispensable. The dynamic of semiotics is immense in scope, writes Sebeok seemingly all-encompassing (1986: x). Since, as Deely brings to our attention (134), even experienced objects presuppose signs, to neglect semiotics is no mere rejection of culture-bound speculation. Thanks in large part to Sebeok's contributions, human understanding now has a viable (and congruent) way to bridge the chasm between nature and culture. Jamin Pelkey in: Linguist List 23.733