Natural self-interest, interactive representation, and the emergence of objects and Umwelt
An outline of basic semiotic concepts for biosemiotics
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7440329 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Tommi Vehkavaara (Tampere University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2003 |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 547-587 |
| Publication date | 2003-12-31 |
| 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.2003.31.2.14 |
| OpenAlex | W2730349355 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 9 |
In biosemiotics, life and living phenomena are described by means of originally anthropomorphic semiotic concepts. This can be justified if we can show that living systems as self-maintaining far from equilibrium systems create and update some kind of representation about the conditions of their self-maintenance. The point of view is the one of semiotic realism where signs and representations are considered as real and objective natural phenomena without any reference to the specifically human interpreter. It is argued that the most basic concept of representation must be forward looking and that both C. Peirce’s and J. v. Uexküll’s concepts of sign assume an unnecessarily complex semiotic agent. The simplest representative systems do not have phenomenal objects or Umwelten at all. Instead, the minimal concept of representation and the source of normativity that is needed in its interpretation can be based on M. Bickhard’s interactivism. The initial normativity or natural self-interest is based on the ‘utility-concept’ of function: anything that contributes to the maintenance of a far from equilibrium system is functional to that system — every self-maintaining far from equilibrium system has a minimal natural self-interest to serve that function, it is its existential precondition. Minimal interactive representation emerges when such systems become able to switch appropriately between two or more means of maintaining themselves. At the level of such representations, a potentiality to detect an error may develop although no objects of representation for the system are provided. Phenomenal objects emerge in systems that are more complex. If a system creates a set of ongoingly updated ’situation images’ and can detect temporal invariances in the updating process, these invariances constitute objects for the system itself. Within them, a representative system gets an Umwelt and becomes capable of experiencing triadic signs. The relation between representation and its object is either iconic or indexical at this level. Correspondingly as in Peirce’s semeiotic, symbolic signs appear as more developed — for the symbolic signs, a more complex system is needed
Biosemiotics · Representation · Sign system · Gene Regulatory Network Analysis · Origins and Evolution of Life · Philosophy and History of Science
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Exaptation—a Missing Term in the Science of Form
On the history of joining bio with semio
Habit formation as symmetry breaking in the early universe
Tractatus Hoffmeyerensis
The chicken and the Orphean egg
Energy and evolutionary semiosis
An introduction to phytosemiotics
Biosemiotics in the twentieth century
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,12 |
| Citation span | 2009 - 2022 (14) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |