Signs
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7076441 |
|---|---|
| Authors | J I Bakker (University of Guelph, corresponding author), J I Hans Bakker |
| Year | 2018 |
| Pages | 1-3 |
| Publication date | 2018-04-27 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | OTHER |
| Venue | The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology (JOURNAL) |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/9781405165518.wbeoss120.pub2 |
| OpenAlex | W4244745012 |
| ISBN | 9781405165518 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 9 |
The term “sign” is used in semiotics and hermeneutics as an umbrella (portmanteau) word covering all forms of gestures, ciphers, tokens, marks, indices, and symbols that convey human meaning. There have been many philosophical views expressed in the study of human meaning construction. Some thinkers trace the beginning of human cognition by the earliest Homo sapiens to the use of signs. The earliest religious thinkers emphasized some supernatural indicators of the true nature of reality: they understood “signs” in nature as messages. This led to necromancy and other forms of divination. The Chinese Yi Ching (I Ching) was initially based on the reading of tortoise shells. Victory in battle was often seen as a sign of the whim of the gods or of God's pleasure in ancient times. That which was not understood directly had to be fathomed on the basis of conjecture. Greek physicians utilized somatic signs to diagnose disease. They called this process semeiosis
Art · Divination · Epistemology · Linguistics · Literature · Meaning (existential · Original meaning · Pleasure · Reading (process · Semiotics · Sign (mathematics · History of Science and Medicine · Mathematics · Philosophy · Psychology
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |