From interaction to symbol : a systems view of the evolution of signs and communication / Piotr Sadowski.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sadowski, Piotr, 1957-

Series:

Iconicity in language and literature ; v. 8.

Iconicity in language and literature, 1873-5037 ; v. 8

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Communication--Philosophy.

Communication.

Signs and symbols.

System theory.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (323 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam ; Philadelphia : John Benjamins Pub. Company, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Against the background of jargon-ridden and often obscure semiotic literature Sadowski's book offers a reader-friendly yet rigorous account of human communication and its evolution from animal and primate behaviour. What is specifically human about the way we exchange information with other people, and to what extent are our facial expressions, body language, and even emotive elements of speech still indebted to our pre-human ancestors? Why can the chimpanzees, smart as they are, not interpret animal tracks in the ground; why did religions often ban representational art; why is photography perceptually more powerful than painting; how have human syntactic speech and combinatorial grammar enabled the "explosion" of culture; and why do otherwise rational humans often strongly believe in the objective existence of unempirical, virtual entities such as religious and philosophic concepts? These and many other fascinating questions are addressed in the book within the methodological framework of systems theory and evolutionary psychology.

Contents:

Intro

Dedication

Table of contents

List of figures

Acknowledgements

chapter 1

Systems theory

Why we need a theory

Problems with philosophy

Logical deduction

Postmodern "theory"

A systems view

A holistic approach

chapter 2

Towards a systems model of communication

What is a definition?

Information as difference

Contiguous communication

Indexical communication

Iconic communication

Symbolic communication

Parainformation as meaning

Communicating meaningful information

Meaning and significance

Deception

Self-deception

Metainformation as implied meaning

More useful definitions

chapter 3

Needs as motivators of behaviour

Needs and emotions

Types of needs

Human uniqueness

Humanism versus dogmatism

chapter 4

From emotive vocalizations to bodily adornments

Defining index

Bodily signals and the beginnings of referentiality

Bodily adornments as the first indexical signs

From memory to consciousness

Memory and the beginnings of culture

Material culture as index

chapter 5

Photography, or the magic of iconic indexicality

When indexicality is mistaken for contiguity

Indexical and iconic "magic"

Brief history of iconic indexicality

Photography versus painting

Photography and the human face

chapter 6

Photography plus movement, or even more magic

The birth of cinema

The mirror and contiguous iconic indexicality

Contiguous experience and the birth of television

Television today - contiguity still reigns supreme

Contiguity goes global

chapter 7

From mimicry to metaphor

Iconicity in animal communication

From mimicry to imitation

Mimetic culture

From imitation to mimesis

The birth of pictorial realism

Fantastic representations

Iconic roots of metaphors

chapter 8.

The thrills of visual realism

Art and ideology

Religion and realism in art

The rediscovery of the body

Physical space rediscovered

Photography and the decline of realism in painting

Why we enjoy pictures

chapter 9

Linguistic iconicity and the limits of arbitrariness

Defining symbol

Indexical features of language

The emotive features of language and music

Phonetic iconicity

Morphological and syntactic iconicity

Iconic gestures

chapter 10

The origins of language and the advantages of arbitrariness

Discrete syntax for the (partly) discrete world

Selective pressures on early language

Language and the problem of reference

The origins of arbitrariness

How language produces meaning

Other possible sources of language: sexual selection and gestures

chapter 11

Language and the symbolic compulsion

It's not all in language

The excesses of language combinatorial machine

The conceptual indulgence of philosophic discourse

The humanities' physics envy

References

Index

The series Iconicity in Language and Literature.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612312236

9781282312234

1282312235

9789027288905

9027288909

OCLC:

505429157