Yuri Lotman on metaphors and culture as self-referential semiospheres

Bibliographic Data

ID4960089
AuthorsWinfried Nöth (0000-0002-2518-9773, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume2006
Issue161
Publication date2006-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSemiotica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0037-1998 • E-ISSN: 1613-3692
PublisherWalter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE)
DOI10.1515/sem.2006.065
OpenAlexW4251105550
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited4

Yuri Lotman describes metaphors and culture as semiospheres or ‘semiotic spaces.’ This account of metaphors is self-referential insofar as it is itself expressed in the form of a metaphor. Moreover, according to Lotman, cultures in general are self-referential systems insofar as they tend to define themselves and evince isomorphic semiotic spaces at mutually inclusive levels and metalevels. Lotman describes semiospheres on the basis of dualisms, levels, stratifications, and spatial opposites that exemplify the Tartu semiotician's theory of the duality of the discreteness of semiotic spaces and their verbal representations versus the continuity of physical space and of pictorial representation

Duality (order theory) · Epistemology · Linguistics · Metaphor · Pure mathematics · Representation (politics) · Semiotics · Space (punctuation) · Mathematics · Philosophy · Translation Studies and Practices