Semiose em Peirce e Lotman

The aim of the article is to introduce an approach to play based on semiotics of culture and, in particular, grounded in the works and ideas of Juri Lotman. On the one hand, it provides an overview of Lotman’s works dedicated to play and games, starting from his article on art among other modelling systems, in which the phenomenon of play is treated deeply, and mentioning Lotman’s articles dedicated to various forms of play forms, such as involving dolls and playing cards. On the other hand, it applies a few Lotmanian theories and ideas to playfulness in order to shed some light on this highly debated, as well as intriguing, anthropic activity. Thus, the paper approaches some of the core questions for a play theory, such as the definition of play, the cultural role of toys and playthings, the importance of unpredictability, the position held by playfulness in the semiosphere and, finally, the differences and commonalities between play and art. Lotman’s theories and works, often integrated by other existing semiotic or ludologic perspectives offer an extremely insightful and fresh take on play and illustrate the great heuristic potential of semiotics of culture.

Since 1984 when J. Lotman’s article “On semiosphere” was published, this concept has been moving from one terminological field to another. In the disciplinary terminological field of the Tartu–Moscow School semiotics of culture, ‘semiosphere’ is connected with terms ‘language — secondary modelling system — text — culture’. From interdisciplinary terminological fields, the associations either with biosphere and noosphere, or with logosphere, are more important. As a metadisciplinary concept, semiosphere belongs to the methodology of culture studies and is associated with the concepts of holism and the part and the whole. In this context, semiosphere marks the complementarity of disciplines studying culture, the movement towards the creation of general culture studies and “understanding methodology”. On the background of the contemporary trends of science it has to be remembered that semiosphere is simultaneously an object- and a metaconcept. The dynamism of culture as a research object forces science to search for new description languages but the new description languages in turn influence the cultural dynamics as they offer new possibilities for selfdescription. Often, however, from a historical perspective, a new description language is nothing but a methodological translation. Thus also the term semiosphere joins together several concepts that are related to semiotics of culture and that have gained new relevance on the background of the culture’s developmental dynamics. The concept of semiosphere brings semiotics of culture again into contact with its history, as it also brings applicational cultural analysis into contact with the history of culture and with the newest phenomena in culture. These contacts determine the place of the semiotics of culture among the sciences studying culture.

The author of this article discusses the reception, in recent decades, of Yuri Lotman’s cultural semiotics and the project of cultural semiotics itself. She pays particular attention to the idea of the interplay between textual and non-textual structures, which is crucial to cultural semiotics. Although Lotman has been very widely cited in studies by Lithuanian humanities scholars since the sixties, only a few articles have critically reflected on his project of cultural semiotics. Lotman is usually presented as a structuralist interested in “secondary modeling systems” and his semiotic theory is compared to that of Algirdas Julius Greimas or some other theory, such as New Historicism. At the same time, outside of Lithuanian academic circles more attention is paid to Lotman’s later works, stressing the connections between cultural semiotics and literary sociology and anthropology.A reconstruction of Lotman’s concepts – such as interplay, world model, and modeling – reveals that the object of Lotman’s cultural semiotics is not immanent secondary modeling systems but the interplay between texts and different cultural languages, structures that are always within a specific context. Lotman is especially interested in shifts of meaning that occur when text and context, text and reader interact. In this sense, Lotman’s semiotics inserts itself between traditional semiotics and literary/cultural sociology, reception theory, anthropology, and literary history – theories and disciplines which not only influenced Lotman’s theory but were themselves significantly affected by it.

This chapter aims to initiate a dialogue between semiotics of culture and existential semiotics about how to understand and conceptualise the changing role of games and play in contemporary society. Games have become the largest cultural industry in the World and their prestige is now exceeding their traditional borders and contaminates the languages of marketing, politics, art and many others. It is urgent, therefore, to acknowledge this change and to try to analyse it with the tools of semiotics. Cultural semiotics, hence, will allow us to conceptualise play as a modelling system and therefore to reconstruct its trajectory in the semiosphere. Existential semiotics, on the other hand, will help us outline the connection between the cultural evolution of games and the current global semiocrises and then to trace their effects on the individual level. In this chapter, then, we will first focus on the inner workings of play as a modelling system, then on its position in the semiosphere (in particular in relation to the concepts of gamification and ludification) and on the relationship between the ludification of culture and the global semiocrises brought by globalization. Finally, we will outline how, in this context, play and games have the semiotic potential to become tools of resistance and of individual expression.

The use of AI-generated videos centered on the face raises various concerns among professionals and audiences due to the difficulty of providing coherent descriptive tools of their cultural significance. At the same time, the focus of artists and their audiences shifts from the art as a text to the collaboration process between artificial intelligence (AI) and the involved social actors. This raises significant concerns between policymakers and other social actors looking for guidelines for the appropriate use of AI as a tool, collaborator or substitute for creative workers, which can have immediate and long-term impacts on society and culture. Semiotics of culture provides descriptive tools for understanding and evaluating artistic texts and their role in semiotic space, the semiosphere. This article addresses how Lotman’s theory can contribute to the methodology for analyzing AI-generated texts as dynamic models. The theoretical framework developed by Lotman in his research on artistic text, dynamic systems and culture can be applied to the studies of current shifts related to AI-generated arts. This paper looks at the reception of AI-generated videos focused on face representations. In doing so, it analyses the dynamic processes in the creation process of AI-generated videos through their reception in related texts. The findings of this article highlight how Lotman’s theoretical framework can contribute to the methodology to analyze the cultural dynamics evoked by AI-generated artistic texts.

The Politics of code. How digital representations and languages shape culture

Cultural semiotics, as a unique theoretical framework, provides a profound way of thinking for the dissemination and interpretation of culture. This article takes the Dabao'en Temple in Nanjing as an example and explores its application in cultural and creative development from the perspective of Buddhist cultural semiotics theory. As a representative heritage of Chinese Buddhist culture, Nanjing Dabao'en Temple contains rich cultural symbols such as religion, history, and art, which is of great significance for cultural and creative development. Firstly, the research value of cultural semiotics in the development of Buddhist cultural creation was explored. Secondly, it explores how the elements in Da Bao En Temple, as cultural symbols, can be reconstructed in modern society to meet the aesthetic and needs of contemporary people. Through the artistic transformation of cultural symbols and other means, Da Bao En Temple has been able to radiate new vitality in cultural and creative products. In addition, this article also analyzes the strategies used in the design process of Da Bao En Temple's cultural and creative products. Through in-depth research, it can not only help Dabao'en Temple's cultural and creative products better achieve cultural dissemination, but also provide useful reference for the development of other similar cultural heritage. In summary, this article explores how cultural symbols can radiate new vitality in contemporary times by studying the application of cultural and creative development based on the theory of Buddhist cultural semiotics in the Dabaoen Temple in Nanjing. This not only helps to promote cultural inheritance, but also provides useful references for the sustainable development of the cultural and creative industry.

Uspenskij, B.A.: Selected works, Vol. 1: The Semiotics of History. The Semiotics of Culture, Moscow 21996, Vol. 2: Language and Culture, Moscow 21996, Vol. 3: General and Slavonic Linguistics, Moscow 1997

Reviewed by: Italian Literary Icons Joann Cannon Gian-Paolo Biasin . Italian Literary Icons. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1985. 199 pp. $27.50. Italian Literary Icons is an ambitious study of two centuries of Italian literature from the perspective of literary and cultural semiotics. In the Introduction Biasin relates his research to the semiotics of Cesare Segre (which he associates with Russian formalism and French narratology on the one hand and the long tradition of philological criticism in Italy on the other). He acknowledges the importance of the work of Ezio Raimondi and Umberto Eco to his research and stresses in particular the conclusion drawn in Eco's A Theory of Semiotics: "Semiotics is also a form of social criticism, and therefore one among the many forms of social practice." Finally, he focuses on particular theoretical tenets that have helped to shape his own interpretative strategy. The readings of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Italian literature that make up the remaining chapters of the book are practical "applications" of the theoretical concepts presented in the Introduction. Biasin analyzes Foscolo's Ultime lettere di Jacopo Ortis, Leopardi's "Alia sera," D'Azeglio's Ettore Fieramosca, verismo and its aftermath (Verga, Pirandello, Tomasi di Lampedusa, Sciascia, Consolo), Borgese's Rubè, Samonà's Fratelli, and Calvino's Le cosmicomiche and Ti con zero. I will limit my remarks to two chapters that seem particularly representative of Biasin's interpretative enterprise. [End Page 835] In Chapter Two Biasin argues convincingly that D'Azeglio's Ettore Fieramosca, an admittedly "minor" work governed by the conventions of the historical novel, is "emblematically minor" in that it allows us to verify three distinct critical propositions, one regarding the collective consciousness of romanticism (Frye), another regarding Lukàcs' thesis on the historical novel as a literary institution, and the third regarding the selection of themes in the formal analysis of a literary text (Tomashevsky). Biasin skillfully verifies these propositions while giving us a greater appreciation of D'Azeglio's novel. In Chapter Six Biasin surveys the many areas (science, anthropology, philosophy) in which the cognitive category "space" comes into play. The author then focuses on the relationship between literature and science as it concerns spherical space. Arguing that the volume of the sphere is a metaphor for the critical description of a literary text, he tests his thesis by applying it to Le cosmicomiche and Ti con zero. The pages leading up to the discussion of Calvino's texts are both fascinating and perplexing: the sheer weight of Biasin's theoretical framework and the impressive "interdisciplinarity" of his argument threaten to overwhelm the readings of the individual texts. The analysis that follows happily puts this fear to rest. The author shows how many of Calvino's spatial references "are coextensive with the notion of writing" and highlights some particularly striking examples of self-reflexivity. Having demonstrated the "sphericity" of Calvino's texts on the thematic as well as the linguistic level, Biasin relates this aspect of Calvino's writing to the "philosophical and scientific developments of contemporary thought, in which the notions of structure, code . . . and model . . . have replaced . . . the notion of Subject." Italian Literary Icons represents an important contribution to the field of literary and cultural semiotics. Above all, Biasin's study is characterized by his admirable respect for the literary text as both an aesthetic object and a communicative event situated in a distinct historical context. [End Page 836] Joann Cannon Syracuse University Copyright © 1986 Purdue Research Foundation

Cryptography is a theory of secret functions. Category theory is a general theory of functions. Cryptography has reached a stage where its structures often take several pages to define, and its formulas sometime run from page to page. Category theory has some complicated definitions as well, but one of its specialties is taming the flood of structure. Cryptography seems to be in need of high level methods, whereas category theory always needs concrete applications. So why is there no categorical cryptography? One reason may be that the foundations of modern cryptography are built from probabilistic polynomial-time Turing machines, and category theory does not have a good handle on such things. On the other hand, such foundational problems might be the very reason why cryptographic constructions often resemble low level machine programming. I present some preliminary explorations towards categorical cryptography. It turns out that some of the main security concepts are easily characterized through diagram chasing, going back to Lambek’s seminal ‘Lecture Notes on Rings and Modules’.

Introduction, How to Move in the World of Signs. PART I: THEORETICAL SEMIOTICS. Andrzej BOGUS_AWSKI: Conditionals and Egocentric Mental Predicates. Wojciech BUSZKOWSKI: On Families of Languages Generated by Categorial Grammar. Katalin G. HAVAS: Changing the World - Changing the Meaning. On the Meanings of the Principle of Non-Contradiction. Henryk HITZ: On Translation. Solomon MARCUS: Imprecision, Between Variety and Uniformity: The Conjugate Pairs. Jaroslav PEREGRIN, Petr SGALL: Meaning and Propositional Attitudes. Olgierd Adrian WOJTASIEWICZ: Some Applications of Metric Space in Theoretical Linguistics. PART II: METHODOLOGY. Evandro AGAZZI: Rationality and Certitude. Irena BELLERT: Human Reasoning and Artificial Intelligence. When Are Computers Dumb in Simulating Human Reasoning? Tomasz BIGAJ: Analyticity and Existence in Mathematics. Geoffrey B. KEENE: Taking up the Logical Slack in Natural Language. Andras Kertesz: Interdisciplinarity and the Myth of Exactness. Jan SRZEDNICKI: Norm as the Basis of Form. Juri S. STEPANOV: Cause in the Light of Semiotics. Jerzy A. WOJCIECHOWSKI: The Development of Knowledge as a Moral Problem. PART III: HISTORY OF SEMIOTICS. Erhard ALBRECHT: Philosophy of Language, Logic and Semiotics. Gerard DELEDALLE: A Philosopher's Reply to Questions Concerning Peirce's Theory of Signs. Janice DELEDALLE-RHODES: The Transposition of the Linguistic Sign in Peirce's Contributions to The Nation. Robert E. INNIS: From Feeling to Mind: A Note on Langer's Notion of Symbolic Projection. Roberta KEVELSON: Peirce's Semiotics as Complex Inquiry: Conflicting Methods. Jerzy KOPANIA: The Cartesian Alternative of Philosophical Thinking. Xiankun LI: Why Gonsung Long (Kungsun Lung) Said White Horse Is Not Horse. Lucia MELAZZO: A Report on Ancient Discussion. Ding-fu NI Semantic Thoughts of J. Stuart Mill and Chinese Characters. Irene PORTIS-WINNER: Lotman's Semiosphere: Some Comments. Joelle RETHORE: Another Close Look at the Interpretant. Edward STANKIEWICZ: The Semiotic Turn of Breal's Semantique. PART IV: LINGUISTICS. Klaus HEGER: Passive and Other Voices Seen from an Onomasiological Point of View. Laszlo I. KOMLOSZI: The Semiotic System of Events, Intrinsic Temporal and Deictic Tense Relations in Natural Language. On the Conceptualization of Temporal Schemata. Wac_aw M. OSADNIK, Ewa HORODECKA: Polysystem Theory, Translation Theory and Semiotics. Anna WIERZBICKA: THINK - a Universal Human Concept and a Conceptual Primitive. PART V: CULTURAL SEMIOTICS. Gianfranco BETTETINI: Communication as a Videogame. W_odzimierz KRYSI??N??SKI: Joyce, Models, and Semiotics of Passions. Hanna KSIAZEK-KONICKA: Visual Thinking in the Poetry of Julian Przybo_ and Miron Bia_oszewski. Urszula NIKLAS: The Space of Metaphor. Maria Caterina RUTA: Captivity as Event and Metaphor in Some of Cervantes' Writings. Eero TARASTI: From Aesthetics to Ethics: Semiotic Observations on the Moral Aspects of Art, Especially Music. Ladislav TONDL: Is It Justified to Consider the Semiotics of Technological Artefacts? Vilmos VOIGT: Poland, Finland and Hungary (A Tuatara's View). Thomas G. WINNER: Czech Poetism: A New View of Poetic Language. Johan WREDE: Metaphorical Imagery - Ambiguity, Explicitness and Life. Else M. BARTH: A Case Study in Empirical Logic and Semiotics. Fundamental Modes of Thought of Nazi Politician Vidkun Quisling, Based on Unpublished Drafts and Notebooks. Paul BOUISSAC: Why Do Memes Die? Wojciech KALAGA: Thresholds of Signification. Adam PODGORECKI: Do Social Sciences Evaporate?

Zhanjiang Nuo Dance, a representative intangible cultural heritage of China’s Lingnan region, embodies profound historical and cultural significance through its ritual symbols, symbolic narratives, and collective memory. However, its transmission faces challenges in the context of modernization and urbanization. Drawing on Lotman’s cultural semiotics theory, this study systematically examines the cultural semiotic characteristics of Zhanjiang Nuo Dance, focusing on its ritual symbols (masks, dance movements, and music), symbolic narratives rooted in myths and legends, and its role in shaping collective memory and identity. Furthermore, the study highlights the dynamic and open nature of this cultural form, which has evolved by integrating diverse cultural elements over time. To address the challenges of cultural preservation, the paper proposes innovative pathways for digital empowerment, including digital recording and preservation, symbolic innovation through interdisciplinary integration, interactive dissemination using virtual reality and augmented reality technologies, and educational practices tailored to modern audiences. These strategies aim to enhance public engagement, particularly among younger generations, and ensure the sustainable inheritance of Zhanjiang Nuo Dance. By combining cultural semiotics with digital technology, this research not only provides a theoretical framework for understanding the cultural value of Zhanjiang Nuo Dance but also offers practical solutions for the preservation and revitalization of intangible cultural heritage in the digital age.

Semiotic modeling systems, primary and secondary

This article presents a general outline of a theoretical and methodological framework for analyzing textscapes. Textscapes are signifying perceptual surfaces that form the interface with the meaning universe of a semiotic eco-system (of, for instance, the life-world of a social actor such as a person, a social group, a community, etc.). In this sense, textscape descriptions and comparisons are of central importance for a semiotics of cultures understood as a text- or discourse-based approach to the description of meaning systems that possess a constitutive and normative status for a semiotic eco-system. The description of such meaning configurations composing the doxa (visions, beliefs, values and norms, know-how, etc.) of a social actor has to rely on a structured approach for dealing adequately with textscapes as the principal data to be studied. Research tasks include the identification of relevant textscapes, the techniques for collecting and conserving them, the analysis of corpora of textscapes or the experimentation with textscapes. In order to illustrate our purpose, we will study two examples of textscapes in a broad sense, understood as signifying 3D-surfaces of the lifeworld of social actors: a typical European open market in Vienna and a middle-class European kitchen. A third example in Hong Kong studies a modern urban communicational textscape.

Multi-agent organizational modeling frameworks can be considered as an efficient solution regarding the distributed applications’ problems such as task bundle mechanisms, supply chain management, as well as air traffic control. The main objective of this paper is to provide a solution based on a solid mathematical theory for the modeling, the analysis and the verification of artificial organizations properties, and particularly those of Multi-Agent Systems (MASs). Category theory is a mathematical formalism used to categorically study the logics of organizations in different societies. Therefore, it can be projected on artificial organizations in a categorical way. Our work is revolved around the idea of modeling Multi-Agents organization using category theory. In other words, it consists on the transformation of Agent-Group-Role (AGR) organizational model in a categorical way in order to obtain a formal semantics model describing the MAS organization. This formal model allows the analysis, the verification and also the validation of the main concepts of an organization at a high level of abstraction