A Short History of Biosemiotics

Abstract

Biosemiotics is the synthesis of biology and semiotics, and its main purpose is to show that semiosis is a fundamental component of life, i.e., that signs and meaning exist in all living systems. This idea started circulating in the 1960s and was proposed independently from enquires taking place at both ends of the Scala Naturae. At the molecular end it was expressed by Howard Pattee's analysis of the genetic code, whereas at the human end it took the form of Thomas Sebeok's investigation into the biological roots of culture. Other proposals appeared in the years that followed and gave origin to different theoretical frameworks, or different schools, of biosemiotics. They are: (1) the physical biosemiotics of Howard Pattee and its extension in Darwinian biosemiotics by Howard Pattee and by Terrence Deacon, (2) the zoosemiotics proposed by Thomas Sebeok and its extension in sign biosemiotics developed by Thomas Sebeok and by Jesper Hoffmeyer, (3) the code biosemiotics of Marcello Barbieri and (4) the hermeneutic biosemiotics of Anton Markoš. The differences that exist between the schools are a consequence of their different models of semiosis, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. In reality they go much deeper and concern the very nature of the new discipline. Is biosemiotics only a new way of looking at the known facts of biology or does it predict new facts? Does biosemiotics consist of testable hypotheses? Does it add anything to the history of life and to our understanding of evolution? These are the major issues of the young discipline, and the purpose of the present paper is to illustrate them by describing the origin and the historical development of its main schools.

Theory and Empiricism of Religious Evolution (THERE): Foundation of a Research Program (Part 2)

“…For the history of biosemiotics cf. Barbieri (2009). See also Ingold (1993, 36): "In anthropology, cultural information is made to play much the same role as is played by the genes in biology."…”

Overcoming the Newtonian paradigm: The unfinished project of theoretical biology from a Schellingian perspective

“…The original members of this movement were inspired by the work of Jacob von Uexküll, C.S. Peirce and Gregory Bateson, among others, (Hoffmeyer, 2008, 3;Favereau, 2008;Barbieri, 2009;Favareau, 2010), and defended their research program by integrating it with the work of Howard Pattee. Von Uexküll argued that organisms can only be understood properly when seen in interaction with their environments which they define as their Umwelt, or 'surrounding world' (Kull, 2001).…”

Biosemiosis and the Cellular Basis of Mind

“…All cells are considered to be semiotic systems and to have the ability to communicate (Barbieri 2009a), and they accomplish this by releasing informationcontaining molecules into their environment. In single-cell organisms, these substances are liberated to the external environment and diffuse to their target cells, a form of communication described as an "ectocrine" system (Baslow 1969).…”

“…Biosemiosis is broadly defined as a meaningful signaling process that occurs in all living organisms at all levels of cellular organization, including from cell to cell, between the myriad cells that form a unique information processing organ or "brain", and also from the brain of one organism to the brain of another organism (Barbieri 2008(Barbieri , 2009aBaslow 2009Baslow , 2010a. However, questions regarding the mechanisms of just how intercellular signaling is organized so that ensembles of cells such as neurons, each transmitting different bits of useful information, are able to function as a collective "mind", the aggregate of all natural brain processes involving perception, thought, insight, foresight, imagination and behavior (Barbieri 2009a), and that can communicate with another "mind" remain to be elucidated.…”

“…However, questions regarding the mechanisms of just how intercellular signaling is organized so that ensembles of cells such as neurons, each transmitting different bits of useful information, are able to function as a collective "mind", the aggregate of all natural brain processes involving perception, thought, insight, foresight, imagination and behavior (Barbieri 2009a), and that can communicate with another "mind" remain to be elucidated.…”