Fundamentals of Methodology Part II The Sign

Abstract

This eight-part series of papers presents a selection of semantic, analytic and metaphysical considerations at the heart of methodology. By ‘selection’ I mean that they are what a structuralist considers to be its salient and necessary tools and principles - not necessarily those that the broader ‘community of scholars’ finds companionable. In this paper I am going to demonstrate that: 1) the normative definition of the sign is structural and is comprised of four components; 2) the sign function can be employed as a paradigm, a template brought into data sets in order to determine organizational realities within the analysand. The explication of the former will further introduce the general principles of paradigmatics; the latter will be explained by way of application to Saussure’s own explanation of ‘sign’. It will be found that the paradigmatic methodology is able to accurately predict, explain and interpret theoretical presentations.