November 8th to 11th, 2004

João Queiroz1,2 & Charbel Niño El-Hani2
queirozj@dca.fee.unicamp.br
charbel@ufba.br
1. UNICAMP
2. UFBA
Brazil

DEFINING SEMIOSIS AS AN EMERGENT PROCESS

ABSTRACT
Our intention in this paper is to discuss in what sense semiosis can be defined as an 'emergent' process in semiotic systems. This problem was framed in the context of our recent research on computational modeling and simulation of semiotic processes, in view of the widespread use of the idea of emergence in the sciences of complexity. Even though the term 'emergence' and its derivatives are largely used in these fields, their precise meanings are rarely discussed. It is fundamental, however, to ascribe a precise meaning to the concept of emergence whenever it is applied to a domain of phenomena or theories. This is the purpose of this work as regards the understanding of semeiosis as an emergent process. It is not our goal here to discuss when or how semiosis emerged, in evolutionary terms. Rather, we are interested in discussing the conditions that should be fulfilled for semiosis to be defined as an emergent process. To solve this problem is, in our view, a requisite for a precise formulation of the problem of the emergence of semiosis, as a topic in the investigations about C.S.Peirce's evolutionary cosmology. In the research reported here, we first summarized an analysis of several emergence theories and concepts elaborated by A. Stephan (1999. Emergenz: Von der Unvorhersagbarkeit zur Selbstorganisation, Dresden University Press). Along this analysis, we raised questions that should be answered in order to precisely characterize semiosis as an emergent process. Finally, we proposed tentative answers to the questions we raised, within Peirce's semiotic.

KEYWORDS: Semiosis, Emergence, C.S.Peirce.

Center for Pragmatism Studies
Philosophy Graduate Program
Departament of Philosophy
Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo - Brazil