Vegetative, Animal, and Cultural Semiosis: The semiotic threshold zones

Abstract

The paper develops the concept of a “semiotic threshold zone” and a classification of major levels of semiotic systems, looking at this as both a theoretical and an empirical problem. The concept of a semiotic threshold zone both specifies and generalizes the notion of a semiotic threshold and is necessary in order to describe and understand the events that enable a system in its evolution to cross the threshold between the levels, and also at the same time to maintain it. The existence of systems based on different types of semiosis leads to secondary and tertiary semiotic threshold zones, in addition to the lower (primary) one that distinguishes semiosic and non-semiosic systems. We argue for the secondary threshold zones being the indexical and symbolic ones, which correspondingly separate the vegetative and animal semiosis (at the indexical threshold zone), and animal and cultural semiosis (at the symbolic threshold zone). We also argue that indexical semiosis is responsible for spatial representations and symbolic semiosis for temporal representations, which means that the vegetative umwelten are both non-spatial and non-temporal, the animal umwelten being spatial but non-temporal, and the cultural umwelten (Lebenswelten) being both spatial and temporal. Within these types of semiosis, the tertiary threshold zones could be found.