Meaning = Life (+ Culture): An outline of a unified biocultural theory of meaning
Author
Summary, in English
The article presents the outlines of an integrative theory of meaning based on the concept of value, understood both as a biological and as a socio-cultural category, synthesizing ideas from evolutionary and developmental psychology, semiotics and cybernetics. The proposal distinguishes between four types of meaning systems, cue-based, associational, mimetic and symbolic, forming an evolutionary and epigenetic hierarchy. The theory is applied to phylogenetic and human ontogenetic development, pointing out significant parallels between the two processes, involving both continuity and discontinuity between the different levels. Since one of the basic tenets of the theory is that only living systems have intrinsic value, which is a necessary and sufficient condition for possessing the category meaning, negative implications are drawn for the meaning potential of (current) artificial systems.
Department/s
Publishing year
2002
Language
English
Pages
253-296
Publication/Series
Evolution of Communication
Volume
4
Issue
2
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
John Benjamins Publishing Company
Topic
- General Language Studies and Linguistics
Keywords
- language
- epigenesis
- meaning
- mimesis
- robots
- signs
- conventions
- value
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1569-9757