Abstract
This article explores how the meaning of information related to things, people, events, and processes in the past is discerned and interpreted to satisfy some current purpose. Starting from the premise that Information about the Past results from a cognitive construction, it considers factors that affect the probability of success in producing Information about the Past. The article analyzes the process, components, and products of learning about the past, building on Constructed Past Theory and applying concepts from semiotics. It identifies characteristic ways in which things in the past are misinterpreted.
Highlights
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations
Constructed Past Theory (CPT) presumes that information about things that existed or happened in the past results from cognitive processes
The tension may be reflected in Cognitive Disparity, differences between the understanding of information that shapes the process of construction and the understanding of information in the past
Summary
Meaning and Producing Information: Semiosis in Knowing the Past. Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This article extends Constructed Past Theory (CPT), focusing on a common problem in producing Information about the Past: the situation in which things in the past had different significance than in the context in which the information is produced. CPT presumes that information about things that existed or happened in the past results from cognitive processes. There can be tension within the overall process because things that were meaningful and their meanings in the past may have been different than understood in the Intentional Approach. The tension may be reflected in Cognitive Disparity, differences between the understanding of information that shapes the process of construction and the understanding of information in the past. Part 3 describes semiotic concepts in CPT; describes relevant CPT classes; and shows how the elements and processes of constructing the past can give rise to Cognitive Disparity.
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