Volume 40, Issue 1/4, 2024
Signs of Rebirth and Renewal
Jamila Farajova
Pages 15-37
https://doi.org/10.5840/ajs202542894
Signs as First (Human) Creations
Any type of semiosis¡ªwhether it be that of manufacturing or signalling (as coined and defined by Barbieri [2009, 2009a]), or of interpretation (as defined by Peirce), or of the vegetative, animal, or cultural umwelten (as explained by Kull [2009, 2009a])¡ªis a process that (re-)creates signs and meanings as amalgams of contingency, change, similarity, relativity, stability, and continuity. It is the concept of continuity that helps us understand how various elements persist and evolve within larger systems through which the existence of the past, the present, and the future are (re-)constructed. Were the ad infinitum chain of semiosis able to be tracked back in time, it would be possible to perfectly know the exact time and space of the very first semiosis (and hence the precise time and place of the Creation) simply because the very first creation was the first sign. The same can be said true for the precise prediction of the future and the last sign if unexpectedness was not at play. This article also defines two approaches to the formidable issue of continuity: (1) continuity as an unbroken, uninterrupted process and (2) continuity as a sequence of unchanged or derivative parts. Moreover, it briefly deals with ¡°creators¡± of signs, Peirce¡¯s synechism, rebirth, and some other issues related to continuity.