Vegetative, animal, and cultural semiosis: The semiotic threshold zones

Abstract

The paper develops the concept of a "semiotic threshold zone" and a Classification of major levels of semiotic systems, looking at this as both a theoretical and an empitical problem. The concept of a semiotic threshold zone both spedfies and generalizes the notion of a semiotic threshold and is necessary in order to describe and understand the events that enable a system in its evolution to cross the threshold between the levels, and also at the same time to maintain iL The existence of systems based on different types of semiosis leads to secondary and tertiary semiotic threshold zones, in addition to the lower (primary) one that distinguishes semiosic and non-semiosic systems. We argue for the secondary threshold zones being the indexical and symbolic ones, which correspondingjy separate the vegetative and animal semiosis (at the indexical threshold zone), and animal and cultural semiosis (at the symbolic threshold zone). We also argue that indexical semiosis is responsible for spatial representations and symbolic semiosis for temporal representations, which means that the vegetative umweiten are both non-spatial and non-temporal, the animal umweiten being spatial but non-temporal, and the cultural umweiten (Lebenswelten) being both spatial and temporal. Within these types of semiosis, the tertiary threshold zones could be found.