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Signs of the Self: An Exploration in Semiotic Anthropology
Author(s) -
Singer Milton
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.1980.82.3.02a00010
Subject(s) - semiotics , introspection , semiotics of culture , identity (music) , epistemology , personal identity , sociology , linguistics , philosophy , anthropology , self , aesthetics
Peirce's general theory of signs, or semiotic, as he called it, yields a theory of the self that sees it both as the object and the subject of semiotic systems. From this viewpoint, the locus, unity, and continuity of the self will be found in the systems of signs that constitute the dialogues between utterers and interpreters of the signs. Personal identity, in this theory, is also a social and cultural identity and is not confined to the individual organism. Peirce's anti‐Cartesianism, which denies intuitive and introspective knowledge of the self, derived that knowledge from the fallible inferences we all make from the observations of external facts, including the signs of the self. This laid the foundation for a semiotic psychology as well as for a semiotic anthropology. [self, semiotic anthropology, personal identity, C. S. Peirce]