Biosemiotics

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See also: Biocommunication (science)

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v
t
e
Biosemiotics (from the Greek bios meaning "life" and semeion meaning
"sign") is a field of semiotics and biology that studies the production and
interpretation of signs and codes[1] in the biological realm. Biosemiotics
attempts to integrate the findings of biology and semiotics and proposes a
paradigmatic shift in the scientific view of life, demonstrating that
semiosis (sign process, including meaning and interpretation) is one of its
immanent and intrinsic features. The term biosemiotic was first used by
Friedrich S. Rothschild in 1962, but Thomas Sebeok and Thure von Uexkll
have implemented the term and field.[2] The field, which challenges
normative views of biology, is generally divided between theoretical and
applied biosemiotics.

Contents
1 Definition
 2 Main branches
3 History
4 See also
5 References
6 Bibliography
7 External links

Definition
Biosemiotics is biology interpreted as a sign systems study, or, to
elaborate, a study of

signification, communication and habit formation of living processes

semiosis (changing sign relations) in living nature
the biological basis of all signs and sign interpretation
Main branches
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According to the basic types of semiosis under study, biosemiotics can be
divided into

vegetative semiotics (also endosemiotics , or phytosemiotics), the

study of semiosis at the cellular and molecular level (including the
translation processes related to genome and the organic form or
phenotype);[3][4] vegetative semiosis occurs in all organisms at their
cellular and tissue level; vegetative semiotics includes prokaryote
semiotics, sign-mediated interactions in bacteria communities such
as quorum sensing and quorum quenching.
zoosemiotics or animal semiotics; animal semiosis occurs in the
organisms with neuromuscular system, also includes
anthroposemiotics, the study of semiotic behavior in humans.
According to the dominant aspect of semiosis under study, the following
labels have been used: biopragmatics, biosemantics, and biosyntactics.

History
Apart from Charles Sanders Peirce (18391914) and Charles W. Morris
(19031979), early pioneers of biosemiotics were Jakob von Uexkll
(18641944), Heini Hediger (19081992), Giorgio Prodi (19281987),
Marcel Florkin (19001979) and Friedrich S. Rothschild (18991995); the
founding fathers of the contemporary interdiscipline were Thomas Sebeok
(19202001) and Thure von Uexkll (19082004).[citation needed]

The contemporary period (as initiated by Copenhagen-Tartu school)[5]

include biologists Jesper Hoffmeyer, Kalevi Kull, Claus Emmeche, Terrence
Deacon, semioticians Martin Krampen, Marcel Danesi, philosophers John
Deely, John Collier, Guenther Witzany and complex systems scientists
Howard H. Pattee, Michael Conrad, Luis M. Rocha & Cliff Joslyn.

In 2001, an annual international conference for biosemiotic research

known as the Gathering in Biosemiotics[6] was inaugurated, and has
taken place every year since.

In 2004, a group of biosemioticians Marcello Barbieri, Claus Emmeche,

Jesper Hoffmeyer, Kalevi Kull, and Anton Markos decided to establish an
international journal of biosemiotics. Under their editorship, the Journal of
Biosemiotics was launched by Nova Science Publishers in 2005 (two issues
published), and with the same five editors Biosemiotics was launched by
Springer in 2008. The book series Biosemiotics (Springer, since 2007) is
edited by Jesper Hoffmeyer, Kalevi Kull, and Alexei Sharov.

The International Society for Biosemiotic Studies was established in 2005.

[7]
A collective programmatic paper on the basic theses of biosemiotics
appeared in 2009.[8]

See also
Ecosemiotics
Mimicry
Naturalization of intentionality
Zoosemiotics
References
1.
Marcello Barbieri, 2008. Biosemiotics: a new understanding of life,
Naturwissenschaften, Vol. 95, Iss. 7, pp. 577599

Kull, Kalevi 1999. Biosemiotics in the twentieth century: A view from

biology. Semiotica 127(1/4): 385414.

Kull, Kalevi 2000. An introduction to phytosemiotics: Semiotic botany and

vegetative sign systems. Sign Systems Studies 28: 326350.

Witzany, Guenther 2008. The biosemiotics of plant communication.

American Journal for Semiotic Studies 24: 3956.

See an account of recent history in: Petrilli, Susan (2011). Expression and
Interpretation in Language. Transaction Publishers, pp. 8592.
Rattasepp, Silver; Bennett, Tyler (eds.) 2012. Gatherings in Biosemiotics.
(Tartu Semiotics Library 11.) Tartu: University of Tartu Press.

Favareau, Donald 2005. Founding a world biosemiotics institution: The

International Society for Biosemiotic Studies. Sign Systems Studies 33(2):
481485.

1. Kull, Kalevi; Deacon, Terrence; Emmeche, Claus; Hoffmeyer, Jesper;

Stjernfelt, Frederik 2009. Theses on biosemiotics: Prolegomena to a
theoretical biology. Biological Theory 4(2): 167173.
Bibliography
Alexander, V. N. (2011). The Biologists Mistress: Rethinking Self-
Organization in Art, Literature and Nature. Litchfield Park AZ:
Emergent Publications.
Barbieri, Marcello (ed.) (2008). The Codes of Life: The Rules of
Macroevolution. Berlin: Springer.
Emmeche, Claus; Kull, Kalevi (eds.) (2011). Towards a Semiotic Biology:
Life is the Action of Signs. London: Imperial College Press.[1]
Emmeche, Claus; Kalevi Kull and Frederik Stjernfelt. (2002): Reading
Hoffmeyer, Rethinking Biology. (Tartu Semiotics Library 3). Tartu:
Tartu University Press.[2]
Favareau, D. (ed.) (2010). Essential Readings in Biosemiotics: Anthology
and Commentary. Berlin: Springer.
Favareau, D. (2006). The evolutionary history of biosemiotics. In
"Introduction to Biosemiotics: The New Biological Synthesis."
Marcello Barbieri (Ed.) Berlin: Springer. pp 167.
Hoffmeyer, Jesper. (1996): Signs of Meaning in the Universe.
Bloomington: Indiana University Press. (special issue of Semiotica
vol. 120 (no.3-4), 1998, includes 13 reviews of the book and a
rejoinder by the author).
Hoffmeyer, Jesper (2008). Biosemiotics: An Examination into the Signs
of Life and the Life of Signs. Scranton: University of Scranton Press.
Hoffmeyer Jesper; Kull, Kalevi (2003): Baldwin and Biosemiotics: What
Intelligence Is For. In: Bruce H. Weber and David J. Depew (eds.),
Evolution and Learning - The Baldwin Effect Reconsidered'.
Cambridge: The MIT Press.
Kull, Kalevi, eds. (2001). Jakob von Uexkll: A Paradigm for Biology and
Semiotics. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. [ = Semiotica vol.
134 (no.1-4)].
Sebeok, Thomas A.; Umiker-Sebeok, Jean (eds.) (1992): Biosemiotics.
The Semiotic Web 1991. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Sebeok, Thomas A.; Hoffmeyer, Jesper; Emmeche, Claus (eds.) (1999).
Biosemiotica. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter. [ = Semiotica
vol. 127 (no.1-4)].
Witzany, G. (2006). The Logos of the Bios 1. Contributions to the
foundation of a three leveled biosemiotics. Helsinki: Umweb.
Witzany, G. (ed.) (2007). Biosemiotics in Transdisciplinary Contexts:
Proceedings of the Gathering in Biosemiotics 6, Salzburg 2006.
 Helsinki: Umweb.[3]
Witzany, G. (ed.) (2014). Biocommunication of Animals. Dortrecht:
Springer
Rothschild, Friedrich S. (2000). Creation and Evolution: A Biosemiotic
Approach. Edison, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
Hoffmeyer, Jesper (ed.)(2008). A Legacy for Living Systems: Gregory
Bateson as a Precursor to Biosemiotics. Berlin: Springer.
External links
International Society for Biosemiotics Studies
The Biosemiotics website by Alexei Sharov
Biosemiotics, introduction (Archive.org archived version)
Overview of Gatherings in Biosemiotics
The S.E.E.D. Journal (Semiotics, Evolution, Energy, and Development)
Jakob von Uexkll Centre
Zoosemiotics Home Page
TDE-R - A Subjective Biocomputer by Charles Dyer
Categories:
Semiotics
Zoosemiotics
Plant cognition

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