The semiotics of models
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12636618 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Winfried Nöth (0000-0002-2518-9773, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 46 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 7-43 |
| Publication date | 2018-05-07 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sign Systems Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1406-4243 • E-ISSN: 1736-7409 |
| Publisher | University of Tartu (PUBLISHER • EE) |
| DOI | 10.12697/sss.2018.46.1.01 |
| OpenAlex | W4213335619 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 13 |
The paper sheds light on the concept of model in ordinary language and in scientific discourse from the perspective of C. S. Peirce’s semiotics. It proposes a general Peircean framework for the definition of models of all kinds, including mental models. A survey of definitions of scientific models that have been influential in the philosophy of science and of the typologies proposed in this context is given. The author criticizes the heterogeneity of the criteria applied in these typologies and the lack of a semiotic foundation in typological distinctions between formal, symbolic, theoretical, metaphorical, and iconic models, among others. The paper argues that the application of Peirce’s subdivision of signs into the trichotomies of the sign itself, its object, and its interpretant can offer a deeper understanding of the nature of models. Semiotic topics in the focus of the paper are (1) the distinction between models as signs and (mental) models as the interpretants of signs; (2) models considered as a type (or legisign) and models considered as tokens (or replicas) of a type; (3) the iconicity of models, including diagrammatic and metaphorical icons; (4) the contribution of indices and symbols to the informativity of models; and (5) the rhetorical qualities of models in scientific discourse. The paper argues in conclusion that informative models are hybrid signs in which a diagram incorporates indices and symbols in a rhetorically efficient way
Arbitrariness · Context (archaeology · Diagrammatic reasoning · Epistemology · Focus (optics · Iconicity · Linguistics · Object (grammar · Perspective (graphical · Philosophy of science · Rhetorical question · Scientific modelling · Semiotics · Sign (mathematics · Sociology · Biomedical Text Mining and Ontologies · Computer Science · Digital Humanities and Scholarship · History · Mathematics · Philosophy · Pragmatism in Philosophy and Education · Artificial Intelligence
Signs, forms, and models
Modeling in semiotics
Peircean anti-psychologism and learning theory
Translation from a contemporary media perspective
Schematic Enough to be Safe from Kidnappers
Umwelt-Semiosis
Crafting Between Maps, Powders, Pigments, and the Specter of Modern Science
Models as signs of the imaginary
The Principles of Scientific Thinking
La Estructura De La Ciencia
Models and Metaphors
The place of art among other modelling systems
Mental Models
Models as icons
Why there is no crisis of representation, according to Peirce
The Criterion of Habit in Peirce's Definitions of the Symbol
Analogy in Quantum Theory
Course in General Linguistics
Yuri Lotman on metaphors and culture as self-referential semiospheres
| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,14 |
| Citation span | 2019 - 2025 (7) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |