"It's the first book which revisits Greek and Latin theories of signs from the point of view of a profound classical scholarship and a paramount knowledge of contemporary semiotics debates."Â -- Umberto Eco Available in English for the first time is Professor Manetti's brilliant study of the origin of semiotics and sign theory. He seeks to discover the common thread that runs through the classical world from the very beginning of human thought to the fourth century A.D. In the "classical" tradition he sees a concept of the sign which is significantly different from that currently in use.

Linear perspective is a science that represents objects in space upon a plane, projecting them from a point of view. This concept was known in classical antiquity. In this book, Rocco Sinisgalli investigates theories of linear perspective in the classical era. Departing from the received understanding of perspective in the ancient world, he argues that ancient theories of perspective were primarily based on the study of objects in mirrors, rather than the study of optics and the workings of the human eye. In support of this argument, Sinisgalli analyzes, and offers new insights into, some of the key classical texts on this topic, including Euclid's De speculis, Lucretius' De rerum natura, Vitruvius' De architectura and Ptolemy's De opticis. Key concepts throughout the book are clarified and enhanced by detailed illustrations.

Modern thought is characterized by a dichotomy of meaningful culture and unmeaning nature. Signs in the Dust uses medieval semiotics to develop a new theory of nature and culture that resists this familiar picture of things. Through readings of Thomas Aquinas, Nicholas of Cusa, and John Poinsot (John of St. Thomas), it offers a semiotic analysis of human culture in both its anthropological breadth as an enterprise of creaturely sign-making, and its theological height as a finite participation in the Trinity, which can be understood as an absolute 'cultural nature'. Signs in the Dust then extends this account of human culture backwards into the natural depth of biological and physical nature. It puts the biosemiotics of its medieval sources, along with Félix Ravaisson's philosophy of habit, into dialogue with the Extended Evolutionary Synthesis that is emerging in contemporary biology, to show how all living things participate in semiosis, so that that a cultural dimension is present through the whole order of nature and the whole of natural history. It also retrieves Aquinas' doctrine of intentions in the medium to show how signification can be attributed in a diminished way to even inanimate nature, with the ontological implication that being as such should be reconceived in semiotic terms. The phenomena of human culture are therefore to be understood not as breaks with a meaningless nature, but instead as heightenings and deepenings of natural movements of meaning that long precede and far exceed us. Against the modern divorce of nature and culture, Signs in the Dust argues that culture is natural and nature is cultural, through and through.

The substance of this present work is liberation semiology. The world's own principle is love (agape). Our fellow creatures are co-symbols of emancipation from human violence. Creation is not, as influential modern thinkers envision, mere material, mere nature, to commodify and dominate for the freedom of an exclusive constituency of our species. The ecological crisis emerges from a tragic misfit between experiments with secular sovereignty and the continuance of Christian historicity. Either the Christian form of life (of time) is replaced, revealing a new ecological worldview, or we revive Christian sovereignty as a creative fit with the actuality of Christian historicity. This work wagers on the latter: Christian civilization is coextensive with ecological civilization.

The ideal introduction to semiotics, containing engaging essays from an impressive range of international leaders in the field. Featuring an extended glossary of key terms and thinkers as well as suggestions for further reading, this is an invaluable reference guide for students of semiotics at all levels.

What professional philosophy needs most today is a new and fresh imagination. Only this will enable a move away from the traditional positions and schools such as realism, idealism, pragmatism, and empiricism. Nothing much will happen in philosophy as long as its main object is the defense of a position expressed in history. As this book argues, there is no thinker better positioned to overcome this impasse than Charles Sanders Peirce, who, through emancipation from the intellectual fortifications of the past, made a fresh imagination spring forth. This text ably guides the reader through the work and thought of Peirce. It first analyses his dialogue with the traditions of philosophy and semiotics, from Aristotle to the present day, before moving on to a close study of Peirce’s own ontology, epistemology and logic.

Bloomsbury Semiotics offers a state-of-the-art overview of the entire field of semiotics by revealing its influence on a wide range of disciplinary perspectives. With four volumes spanning theory, method and practice across the disciplines, this definitive reference work emphasizes and strengthens common bonds shared across intellectual cultures, and facilitates the discovery and recovery of meaning across fields. It comprises: Volume 1: History and Semiosis Volume 2: Semiotics in the Natural and Technical Sciences Volume 3: Semiotics in the Arts and Social Sciences Volume 4: Semiotic Movements Written by leading international experts, the chapters provide comprehensive overviews of the history and status of semiotic inquiry across a diverse range of traditions and disciplines. Together, they highlight key contemporary developments and debates along with ongoing research priorities. Providing the most comprehensive and united overview of the field, Bloomsbury Semiotics enables anyone, from students to seasoned practitioners, to better understand and benefit from semiotic insight and how it relates to their own area of study or research. Volume 1: History and Semiosis provides a general and historical orientation to semiotic traditions and their methodologies, followed by an in-depth overview of critical issues in the study of sign systems and semiosis. It ends with an exploration of issues of sign classification and practical application, setting the scene for the remaining volumes.